Rare 'Doomsday Fish' Resurfaces In California: Only 3rd Sighting This Year!

The ‘doomsday fish’ has resurfaced once again, this time along the Grandview Beach in Encinitas, Southern California coast. The infamous deep-sea creature, which was last week identified by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers, has again captured the interest of both the scientific community and the proponents of folklore.

(Photo Credit: Facebook) Rare 'Doomsday Fish' Resurfaces In California

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This is the second oarfish that appeared in the San Diego region this year; the first one was a 12-foot specimen, which washed ashore last August. This one, however, measures about 10 feet in length. The oarfish has been transported to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for further studies. "This specimen and the samples collected from it will yield important information about the biology, anatomy, and life history of oarfishes," said Ben Frable, manager of the Scripps Oceanography Marine Vertebrate Collection.

Just 20 oarfish have been sighted in the state of California since 1901, which makes them extremely rare. Oarfish are most commonly found 20 to 200 meters below the sea level in temperate and tropical regions, thus their close to the water surface appearances is quite rare. Oarfish are long and ribbon-shaped to 30 feet long and they feed on small crustaceans and krill.

(Photo Credit: Facebook) Oarfish

Additional to these, three oarfish sightings have been reported around the world this year; two in California and one in Darwin Australia when a specimen was caught by Curtis Peterson and featured on Fishing Australia TV.

Mysteries Of The Deep

Everyone has heard of the ‘doomsday fish’ known as the oarfish, whose appearance consider an acute warning of danger in the form of natural calamities such as earthquakes or tsunamis. This is in accordance with Japanese beliefs, those myths spurred more in the years following the appearance of over 20 oarfish around the Japanese coast a couple of months before the epicenter of the earthquake and tsunamis that rocked the country in 2011. Back in California, after an oarfish was reported in Los Angeles, an earthquake of 4.4 magnitude almost rocked the city two days after.

Despite the absence of any scientific proof linking sightings of oarfish to earthquakes, the belief persists through cultures. There is this belief that there is an association between the occurrence of these fishes and natural calamities, however no facts support such a concept, Zachary Heiple, Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s doctoral student asserted.

There are still many unexplained phenomena when it comes to the ocean. Apart from myths attached to the discovery of an oarfish, researchers get a rare opportunity to study these elusive creatures. Oarfish, which is of scientific value in addition to containing some aspects of mythology, remains the subject of research and fascination due to its gigantic size and the unexplored depths of the ocean it inhabits.