Rare ‘doomsday’ oarfish emerges off San Diego coast, exciting scientists

The body of a rare deep-sea-dwelling fish measuring 12 feet was found in waters off the San Diego coast this week, exciting marine experts.

Oarfish are the longest recorded bony fish in the world and this silvery specimen was discovered by “some lucky kayakers and snorkelers” near La Jolla Cove, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said in a statement posted on X.

“To give you an idea of how rare this encounter is, only 20 oarfish have washed up in California since 1901!” it added.

The fish was found dead and floating on the ocean’s surface by the group members, who worked with lifeguards to transport it to a nearby National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility where scientists are due to “perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death,” the statement from Scripps said.

The fish will eventually be placed in the Scripps Marine Vertebrate Collection, “where scientists will be able to further study this mysterious species,” Scripps added.

Oarfish, known scientifically as Regalecus glesne, are strikingly long and have a “ribbon-shaped body,” according to the environmental nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, which allows them to swim vertically in the deep sea where they live off krill, plankton and small crustaceans. They have large bulging eyes and can grow to more than 30 feet, the nonprofit added, describing them as “one of the longest and most odd-looking fish in the sea.”

The species also gained an ominous reputation in modern folklore amid concerns that their sightings are a harbinger of earthquakes - causing it to be nicknamed the “doomsday” fish. There were reports that 20 oarfish were seen in Japan in the months ahead of its devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 18,000 people.

However, a 2019 study by Japanese researchers found there was no correlation between the sightings and earthquakes, and called the folklore linking the two “a superstition.”

“Oarfish are quite a sight to behold” and “may be one of the sources of sea serpent folklore,” said Meredith Moore, director of the Fish Conservation Program at Ocean Conservancy.

“They’ve also been nicknamed the doomsday fish, as in some places they are viewed as harbingers of bad news, such as natural disasters like earthquakes,” she added. “Despite the legends, if an oarfish is spotted close to the surface, it typically indicates that the creature is sick, dying, or at least disoriented.”

Ben Frable, a manager of the Marine Vertebrate Collection at Scripps, said Friday in an email that oarfish are “special” because of their size and unique appearance.

“It really is not like most animals we interact with on a more regular basis,” he said. It’s rare to find them in California, he added, but slightly more common in places like Taiwan and Japan.

Each fish discovered, however, “can provide valuable insight into the biology and life history of this species,” Frable said.

He discounted any connection between oarfish and natural disasters, saying the “doomsday” nickname had arisen from Japanese folklore.

“The myth is that they wash up just before a major earthquake,” he said, noting that scientific studies had “found no correlation.”

“It’s more likely they wash up when they are injured, dying or disoriented,” he said in his email. “Their long ribbon like body is not well suited for swimming in surface or near shore currents so it’s easily swept towards shore.”

The scaleless fish is a possible source of “sea monster legends,” according to the Florida Museum of Natural History, due to its length and appearance.

It is “widely distributed in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and from Topanga Beach in southern California south to Chile in the eastern Pacific Ocean,” it said, adding it has been found living at depths of 3,280 feet.