Infrequent Fish Found in the Hudson Canyon

Image from ​http://clasticdetritus.com/2010/07/18/sea-floor-sunday-67-hudson-submarine-canyon/

​You never know what you might find when you go fishing. This is especially true in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Hudson Canyon. The canyon area where most people go to fish is located about 100 miles east of the Jersey Shore.
 
Though rarely seen or understood by most people, the Hudson Canyon is actually a submerged canyon that was once exposed during the last Ice Age, over 10,000 years ago, when sea levels were about 400 feet lower that present day, and the mouth of the Hudson River was near the edge of the continental shelf. The Hudson Canyon is an extension of the Hudson River Valley. The canyon runs from the New York- New Jersey Harbor up to 400 nautical miles out to sea, at places reaching depths of over 10,000 feet.
 
If one could see the Hudson Canyon today it would surely be an impressive sight. The rocky walls of the canyon rise nearly a mile from the bottom making it similar to the famous Grand Canyon. The Hudson Canyon is the largest known ocean canyon off the East Coast of the United States, and one of the largest submarine canyons in the world.
 
Until just recently, undersea studies by scientists have increased our appreciation for the Hudson Canyon. For good reason, this area contains an amazing diversity of deep-sea life, including various species of deep sea coral and sponges, and an important over-wintering area for a great number of fish, including summer flounder and black sea bass.
 
Who knows what lurks or what might be found under the deep sea near New York Harbor. Maybe an unusual bigscale pomfret fish?

Image from ​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big-scale_pomfret

Unusual Catch in Hudson Canyon
BY OTW STAFF | DECEMBER 11, 2015 | REPORTS, SALTWATER, TUNA & OFFSHORE.
On the Water Magazine 
 
Fishing in the canyons has held up through November and into December this year, with White Water Outfitters reporting that boats making the run are still catching bigeye tuna, albacore, and the occasional giant bluefin tuna.
 
While 200-pound-plus bigeye and giant bluefin are certainly impressive, the most noteworthy catch from this extended canyon season was a good deal smaller. White Water Outfitters reported that Marcel Israel was fishing through the night at Hudson Canyon when a bigscale pomfret grabbed one of his swordfish baits set at 200 feet.
 
Bigscale pomfret (taractichthys longipinnis)
Marcel Israel with a bigscale pomfret that ate a swordfish bait in Hudson Canyon last week.
 
Pomfret are a deepwater fish that occur on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico. Not much is known about their diet or habits, though the occasionally turn up on pelagic long lines intended for swordfish, and are reported to be great eating. The IGFA World Record bigscale pomfret weighed 20 pounds, 10 ounces, and was caught off Florida in October 2004.