Incredibly uncommon ‘harbinger of doom’ fish discovered washed up on seashore in California

Strange deep sea fishes historically called ‘harbingers of doom’ have washed up on California’s coastline for the second time this year.

A dead oarfish, an “incredibly rare” creature considered a symbol of impending doom in Japanese folklore, was spotted along the Southern California coast just months after another surfaced in a different location. One was first spotted in August by amateur kayakers who discovered the dead creature floating in waters just off La Jolla Cove, in San Diego. The other appeared last week ashore the grandview beach in Encinitas last week by Alison Laferriere, a PhD candidate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

The oarfish in Encinitas was “smaller” than the one observed in San Diego, measuring between 9 and 10 feet, Ms Laferriere told reporters.

The oarfish, the largest bony fish in the world, is only the 20th such fish to wash up along the Golden State’s coast since the early 1900s, according to Ben Frable, manager of the Marine Vertebrate Collection at the University of California’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

He told the Los Angeles Times: “They are not common here in California. These fish are generally living in the deep-sea, open-ocean environment.”

The long, ribbon-like fish are periodically found on beaches around the world, more frequently in the tropics. Changes in ocean conditions due to warming temperatures as a result of the climate emergency and increased numbers of oarfish might be the reason why for their appearance.

Oarfish typically live in an area of the deep sea called the mesopelagic zone, where light cannot reach. The creatures dwell between 700 and 3,280 feet below the surface – and rarely come up to lighter waters.

The fish are sometimes called doomsday fish due to their mythical reputation as predictors of natural disasters or earthquakes. The fish, also known as “ryugu no tsukai,” were believed to be servants of the sea god Ryūjin, according to Japanese folklore. In 2011, 20 oarfish were found on beaches in Japan in the months before the 2011 earthquake.

Researchers took samples and froze the oarfish to determine the cause of death and eventual preservation as part of the Scripps’ Marine Vertebrate Collection, one of the largest collections of deep-sea fish in the world.

These majestic creatures have been spotted in waters all over the world, with sightings reported in California, Maine, New Jersey, Taiwan and Japan.

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