Tanner Wright discovered Monday that reeling a wolf eel from the Southern California depths is a lot easier than holding onto one while posing for a video.
The accompanying footage shows Wright, a deckhand on the Reel Fun out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing, trying to pose with the bizarre-looking creature while Capt. Chris Pica documented his rare catch.
“Come on Tanner, grab the thing. We’re trying to get a picture. Stop screwing around,” Pica jokingly instructs.
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Wright, struggling to grab the tail of the slithering wolf eel, responds: “He needs to calm down.”
Wolf eels, a species of wolffish, are found along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California, but they’re rarely caught aboard sportfishing vessels.
While they possess dangerous canine teeth and molars, and jaws designed to crush the hard shells of prey, they’re rarely aggressive toward humans and are a prized sighting for scuba divers.
They reside mostly in rocky caves and crevices, where they prey on invertebrates such as crabs, clams, mussels and urchins. But wolf eels also will ambush small fish.
Donna Kalez, general manager of Dana Wharf Sportfishing, said Wright caught his wolf eel on a sardine at a depth of nearly 300 feet. It was kept alive in the bait tank overnight, and released Tuesday.
On Wednesday the landing announced that it would cease operations at least through March 31 in cooperation with coronavirus-related closures mandated by Orange County.
–Images of Tanner Wright with wolf eel are courtesy of Dana Wharf Sportfishing