Massive rockfish caught in Alaska could be 200 years old

A recreational fisherman hauled in a record-breaking fish last week off the coast of Alaska. Experts are estimating that the 39.08-pound shortraker rockfish has been roaming the Alaskan waters for more than a century.

Henry Liebman, an insurance adjuster from Seattle, was about 10 miles off the coast of Sitka, Alaska, in 900-foot-deep waters when he made the catch. With its neon orange scales and bulging circular eyes, the 41-inch fish would fit right into the cast of a cartoon.

"I knew it was abnormally big [but I] didn't know it was a record until on the way back we looked in the Alaska guide book that was on the boat," Liebman told The Daily Sitka Sentinel.

An Alaska Department of Fish and Game manager estimated that the fish could be 200 years old, but National Oceanic and Astmospheric Administration (NOAA) spokeswoman Julie Speegle told CBSNews.com that it is impossible to determine age simply by looking at the fish.

"That's really speculative, so I wouldn't even start to comment on what age the fish is until it comes back from the lab," she said.

The first step in the process is to remove the fish's small ear bones, called otoliths. In this case, the otoliths have been removed and will arrive in the lab in Juneau on Wednesday afternoon. There, Alaska Department of Fish and Game scientists will study the rings on the otoliths -- similar to reading tree rings. Representative Monica Matz said the process should not take long.

The previous shortraker age record is 175 years. Fisherman in the Bering Sea still hold the record for the largest shortraker ever caught: a 62-pound fish scientists estimated to be 95 to 115 years old. But Liebman's catch likely set a new age record, and a new state record for size of a shortraker caught by a sport fisherman in Alaska. Most shortrakers found in Alaska waters are about 11 pounds and 26 inches, though commercial fisherman regularly catch 40-pound shortrakers.

Critics have questioned why the ancient fish was not thrown back to sea. That was not an option, Speegle explained, because when a rockfish is brought up from these depths, its bladder fills with air and it does not survive.

Matz added that Liebman took home the filets and the head, which he plans to have mounted in Washington.