Soal dan Pembahasan TBI (Reading Comprehension) Bagian 23

        Its squat body and flimsy-looking pectoral fins may not scream speed-demon. But the opah, or moonfish, is actually quite fast, and can run with the big boys like tuna and swordfish. That’s just one of many surprising revelations coming to light as more of these mysterious fish appear unexpectedly in scientific surveys along the southern California coast. This unexplained surge is enabling researchers to study and photograph the camera-shy creatures.

        While documenting a fishing survey, photographer Ralph Pace caught the roughly 59-kilogram fish on camera off the southern Colifornia coast in November 2014. Researchers had accidentally caught the odd animal, and after it was released. Pace dove into the water to take some snapshots before it swam away. He had only a couple of minutes with opah, but they were memorable. He recalled that it was big, probably bigger than a manhole cover. John Hyde, a fish-genetics researcher with NOAA Southwest Fisheries in La Jolla, Colifornia, mentioned that photos of them in the water free-swimming were pretty and Pace’s images were better than the rest he has seen.

        Owyn Snodgrass, a fisheries biologist with NOAA Southwest Fisheries, mentioned that opah can be valuable commodities on the seafood market, homever, there is no targeted fishery for them. That is partly because the deep-sea dwellers don’t congregate in largo groups like other commercially valuable fish such as tuna. So, focusing solely on opah won’t make fishermen much money. Instead, moonfish are caught as bycatch in commercial tuna and swordfish fisheries. Despite the relatively small size of the catch, they bring in a good chuck of change. The 2012 Hawaiian opah market wasvalued at around $3 million. They are very tasty fish. Opah are unusual in that different parts of their body look and taste different. The upper part of the fish looks like tuna and taster like a cross between tuna and salmon, he says. But their pectoral muscles-the ones that power the fins on the barbecue or smoked.

        Casson Trenor, who co-owns, four San Francisco sushi restaurant, actually prefers a little sear on his opah. He does not ofter the fish in his restaurant, though, since little is known about the sustainability of the fishery. The pectoral muscles aren’t just good eating – they also give researchers clues about the animal’s speed and way of life. Those muscles are about percent of an opah’s body weight, which is a relatively large percentage. Despite what they look like they can swim really fast when they want to and can swim long distances.

Adapted from http://news.nationalgeographic.com