Nasty fish not on the menu | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

It had four commercial fisherman baffled, but with the help of the internet and 24 hours, Barry Buckrell was able to identify his "bizarre" catch.

Mr Buckrell and his wife, Carol, were at their Pourerere Beach holiday home on Monday when he caught a longnose lancetfish.

He had been surfcasting in the hope his octopus bait would land a kingfish.

His catch pulled the line left and right when it took to the air and beached itself on a reef, sending all the seagulls into the air. As Mr Buckrell, of Hastings, tried to retrieve the fish from the "slippery" reef it was "snapping like a dog".

"It had a nasty disposition," Mr Buckrell said. It took 30 minutes for the 1.5m-long, 9kg fish to tire and die. Once the fish was killed, Mr Buckrell was surprised to find he "couldn't see any blood".

"It's transparent. It doesn't smell fishy. It's unusual."

The fish's stomach revealed three paddle crabs and what looked like a squid surrounded by orange gunk. "He wasn't the nicest fish to tangle with. He was uptight. The fish has some funny characteristics. I wouldn't like to pull it in a boat. I think it would have gotten into everybody."

Ministry of Fisheries officer Craig Petherick said the fish find was "not rare, it's just not common".

The fish was usually caught by surfcasters and trawlers, or found washed up on New Zealand beaches. With the fish having been caught close in shore, Mr Petherick believed it could have been sick.

The Buckrells don't intend to eat the fish. Mrs Buckrell called her husband's catch the "nastiest, ugliest" fish she had seen.