Here are some photos of the louvar taken by the Tracy Ann on Monday, different angle. Robert Lee from Plano, Texas was on board as Julio and Martin headed out in search of marlin, they had studied the Terrafin water temperatures and decided that 35 miles out would be a good spot. When they got out to their chosen fishing spot, it was super calm, the water almost looked oily, which is why they were able to spot something shimmering about half a mile away. At first they thougth it was turtle and started heading towards it. As they drew closer they saw a striped marlin that was circling the shimmering creature, it would circle and then close in. Knowing a good opportunity they cast a live bait to the marlin and registered a solid hook up, it took about 25 minutes to release the striper. Julio commented "the marlin are very strong right now, they are eating big, big squid, that hardly fits in their throat". Once the marlin was safely released, they turned their attention to the odd creature which was alive but fading fast. They brought it on board knowing that it was not going to survive. They had never seen anything like it, "it looked like a little alien" Julio said. He thinks a blue marlin may have attacked it and that the striped marlin might have tried to eat it too, but it was way too large for a striper to swallow. Nevertheless, the skin stripped away could definitely have been done with a marlin bill. They brought it back to port where it is stashed in our freezer awaiting the arrival of scientists from our state capital of La Paz, who would like to have some tissue samples. This is only the third louvar we have seen in 30 years.
