100-pound tropical fish washed up on Oregon beach in a 'rare occurrence'

• Last week, a 100-pound tropical Opah, also known as a moonfish, washed ashore on Oregon's coast.
• The fish was a surprising discovery for both its size and the location where it was found.
• The Opah has been frozen and will be thawed in the upcoming school year for students to dissect.

A large tropical fish washed up on the shores of Oregon's Sunset Beach on July 14, and experts were amazed by both its size and the location where it was found.

Tiffany Boothe, the assistant manager at Seaside Aquarium in Seaside, Oregon, told Insider in a statement that its experts identified the animal as an Opah fish, commonly known as a moonfish. It weighed 100 pounds and stretched 3.5-feet wide, the statement said.

When Seaside Aquarium experts arrived at the Oregon beach, the fish was larger than they expected, Boothe said in the same statement from the museum.

"In the photograph, the fish did not appear to be very big, but when we came across it we were amazed by its size, and then when we tried to move it was surprised again by its weight," Boothe said.

While the orange-and-silver fish has surprised experts at the museum, this isn't the first large Opah to be discovered.

In 2009, a 97-pound Opah was caught 37 miles off of the Columbia River Mouth in Milwaukie, Oregon, according to The Oregonian.

But a 100-pound Opah isn't too shocking. According to Seaside Aquarium, while little is known about Opahs, they live in the open ocean and can weigh more than 600 pounds and measure longer than 6 feet.

What was most surprising about the fish is that it ended up on a beach in Oregon. According to the statement from Seaside Aquarium, Opahs are "rare to the Oregon Coast."

"They are usually very far offshore, so it was unusual for one to be so close to shore that when it died it washed ashore in almost pristine condition," Boothe added.

Heidi Dewar, a research biologist with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, told The Washington Post that the unusual moonfish spotting in Oregon could be an indicator of the ongoing climate crisis as more marine animals move north as ocean temperatures increase.

Keith Chandler, the general manager of Seaside Aquarium, told CNN that they are unsure how the Opah died, but he estimates that the fish had been on the beach for less than an hour before aquarium officials recovered it.

Seaside Aquarium's statement said that the fish has since been frozen, and that in the upcoming school year, one school will be chosen to dissect the fish for educational purposes.