Featured Image Credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography/Facebook
Topics: Environment, Science, Weird, US News, Animals
Jess Battison
Topics: Environment, Science, Weird, US News, Animals
Just days before the ground shook, a rare ‘doomsday creature’ was discovered.
Yeah, I know, that sounds like the opening to some mad sci-fi film or a creepy new Netflix show - but it actually seems to be a real life ‘sign of pending disaster’.
Oh, and this mysterious creature was dead when it was found. Not quite the happy Friday news you might have been hoping for.
The absolute whopper known as the ‘harbinger of doom’ was found off the coast of California last weekend by kayakers and snorkelers exploring San Diego’s La Jolla Cove.
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At a mega 12-foot, the oarfish is believed to be the sign of impending earthquakes. And, well, the washing up carcass delivered on its promise – whether it was wanted or not.
Just two days after the group found the ‘doomsday’ fish, a 4.6 earthquake shook Los Angeles.
They weren’t exactly bothered by the discovery in the waters though as they cuddled up to the carcass for some snaps.
After getting those pics though, the group did report their eerie finding to UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where officials are performing a necropsy to determine what killed the young oarfish and led to its body showing up in shallow waters.
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It’s a particularly odd discovery because not only are the creatures deep-sea dwellers but they are rarely seen by humans.
Plus, even when they are dead, it’s rare that they’d end up in shallow areas like this.
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The centre said only 20 oarfish have washed up in the entire state since 1901.
The Ocean Conservatory describes oarfish as ‘strikingly large, odd-looking fish’. Well, how flattering.
The creatures can also grow to be a huge 30 feet long and have long, silvery and ribbon-shaped bodies.
Oh, and adding to the creepiness, oarfish have creepy looking big eyes and ‘foreboding red spines that stick out to form a crown-like cluster’.
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Ben Frable, manager of the Marine Vertebrate Collection explained: "People have studied them, but we’ve very rarely interacted with them alive in their natural habitat."
“It’s always been a fish of interest, this long, beautiful silver fish,” he added. “It definitely looks fanciful; it evokes the sea serpent mythology.”
Tell you what, if one washed up near me, I don’t think I’d be hanging round for photos with the ‘doomsday fish’.
How’s that for a bad omen?