A Nostradamus might swim among us.
An oarfish, a rare species of fish also known as a “doomsday fish” because its appearance has allegedly signaled disaster in the past, washed up dead on a beach in Encinitas in Southern California.
According to NBC News, the ominous creature lives in the depths of the ocean, making it a rare sight. There have been just 21 recorded oarfish sightings near California beaches since 1901. Two of those sightings occurred in 2024—another oarfish washed up on a shore in La Jolla in August.
Oarfish can grow up to 20 feet long. The one discovered in mid-November was closer to 10 feet but still intrigued the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In a Facebook post on Nov. 13, the center — a department of UC San Diego— said it “took samples and froze the specimen awaiting further study and final preservation in the Marine Vertebrate Collection.”
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“Like with the previous oarfish, this specimen and the samples taken from it will be able to tell us much about the biology, anatomy, genomics, and life history of oarfishes,” Ben Frable, the manager of the Scripps Oceanography Marine Vertebrate Collection, explained.
Frable also hypothesized why a second oarfish appeared in California this year. “It may have to do with changes in ocean conditions and increased numbers of oarfish off our coast,” he said via Facebook.
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“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. 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,” Frable added.
According to The Ocean Conservancy, an oarfish washing ashore could have a darker meaning. “In some areas of the world, these creatures are seen as harbingers of bad news, particularly disasters or destruction,” the conservancy notes.
“The legend is that if you see an oarfish, it is a warning sign from higher powers that disasters such as earthquakes are soon to occur.”
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In 2011, 20 of the portentous fish appeared near Japanese shores months before the country experienced its most devastating earthquake on record, which resulted in over 15,000 deaths.
More recently, a 4.4-magnitude earthquake occurred in Los Angeles two days after the August oarfish sighting this year.
The “doomsday fish” typically live between 300 and 3,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, according to SF Gate. The fish has a long, silvery, ribbonlike body that can help it camouflage in the ocean depths, per The Ocean Conservancy. Oarfish also have large eyes and red spines that resemble a crown.
