The latest catch was made Saturday aboard La Brisa. An Australian couple had just caught and released a marlin when something brown and shiny was spotted at the surface beyond Punta Gorda in the Sea of Cortez.

The crew gently lifted the dead specimen -- ratfish live in remarkably deep water and bottom-feed on small invertebrates -- into the boat and brought it back to the landing, where it was kept for scientists.

"It appears that this is a new species of ratfish, not known before and they are expected to publish a paper on it soon," said the Pisces blog. "We applaud the crew of La Brisa, as they have been working with the scientists on several projects and all of our crews are showing a keen interest in conservation and want to learn more. They did well to recognize this as something unusual and to get it to us intact to the freezer."

As for marlin fishing off Land's End, it remains unseasonably slow but sporadic catches are being made