A 200-year-old fish was caught off Alaska, and it might be the largest, oldest rockfish ever caught.

At a whopping 39.08 pounds, the fish may set a record for the largest rockfish ever caught.The rockfish was caught by Seattle resident Henry Liebman off the coast of Sitka, Alaska.

The ancient fish was born before the Star Spangled Banner was written.

The 200-year-old rockfish was born when Madison was in the White House, before the U.S. bought Alaska from Russia. It was almost 41 inches long.

However, many have protested that the fish was not thrown back. The reason the fisherman did not do so is that the rockfish was almost certainly dead by the time he reeled it in.

"When a rockfish caught in 900 feet of water is brought to the surface it usually dies," said Julie Speegle, a spokeswoman for NOAA's Alaska region, in an interview with the L.A. Times.

Rockfish have a gas filled organ called a swim bladder that helps them regulate how buoyant they are. When rockfish are brought up to the surface, the gas in the bladder expands and it bursts, thus killing the fish.

"I knew it was abnormally big, [but I] didn't know it was a record until on the way back - we looked in the Alaska guidebook that was on the boat," Liebman told press.

Samples of the giant, ancient rockfish have been sent to a Juneau lab. Scientists will age the fish by examining an ear bone called the otolith. It contains growth rings similar to those found in trees.

The fish doesn't break the record for the longest-lived animal ever found. That's held by a tiny quohog clam found in Iceland. It was about 400 years old.

Leibman has decided to have his historic catch mounted to preserve the centuries-old fish.