The Most Abundant Fish You’ve Never Seen

with Dr. Karly Cohen

Just below our docks is one of the Salish Sea’s most abundant, and most misunderstood, fishes: the Spotted Ratfish.

Ratfish are ancient relatives of sharks and rays, remnants of a much more diverse group of fishes that dominated the oceans before a mass extinction reshaped marine life. This talk dives into ratfish biology, from their hidden nursery grounds here is Friday Harbor to an evolutionary plot twist involving a tooth-covered mating structure unlike anything else in vertebrates. It’s a story of backyard discovery, strange anatomy, and why studying overlooked species can change how we think about evolution, conservation, and the future of marine science.