A huge deep-sea fish dragged a fishing boat over 37 kilometres on Saturday after it got caught in a net, eventually dying of exhaustion, in Shandong Province.

Xue, a fisherman from Jimo, said the crew noticed the enormous fish when the boat was suddenly shaken and pulled forward at high speed.

The boat stopped moving after four hours and the fishermen dragged the net ashore to find a 240-kilogram fish in it.

Xue sold the fish to a local museum for 43,000 yuan (US$5,493).

Qingdao Morning Post