Kelp, that can’t be good.
A rare, massive fish known as the harbinger of doom has washed up on a California shore — for the second time in just three months.
The roughly 10-foot-long dead oarfish — rumored to be a sign of impending earthquakes — was found stretched out on the rocky shoreline of Grandview Beach in Encinitas by UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography last week.
Researchers took the carcass back to its lab for preservation and to better study the biology, anatomy, genomics and life history of what is supposed to be a rarely seen creature.
It is the second in the institute’s possession — a dead 12-foot oarfish was found in August by kayakers coasting through La Jolla Cove, 20 miles south of Grandview Beach.
Oarfish are deep-sea dwellers and are seldom seen by humans. Even their bodies rarely float into shallow waters, making last week’s discovery extremely odd.
Only 20 oarfish have washed up in the entire state since 1901.
They are “strikingly large, odd-looking fish” with a long, silvery, ribbon-shaped body that can grow to be 30 feet long, according to the Ocean Conservatory.
Oarfish have long been rumored to precede natural disasters, particularly earthquakes — and the La Jolla Cove Doomsday Fish was even discovered just two days before a 4.6 earthquake rattled Los Angeles.
Researchers, however, emphasized the claims have been long debunked and the recent oarfish sightings are much less nefarious.
“It may have to do with changes in ocean conditions and increased numbers of oarfish off our coast,” Ben Frable, manager of the Scripps Oceanography Marine Vertebrate Collection, said.
“Many researchers have suggested this as to why deep-water fish strand on beaches. Sometimes it may be linked to broader shifts such as the El Niño and La Niña cycle but this is not always the case,” he continued, referring to warm and cool phases of a natural climate pattern across the tropical Pacific.
“There was a weak El Niño earlier this year. This wash-up coincided with the recent red tide and Santa Ana winds last week but many variables could lead to these strandings.”
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