The elusive oarfish, a creature nicknamed the “doomsday fish” because of its place in folklore as a precursor to disaster, was captured on video this month after it was seen in shallow water in Baja California Sur, along Mexico’s Pacific Coast.
A group of people who were visiting the area spotted the fish swimming near a beach on Feb. 9.
Oarfish have an eel-like slender body and gaping mouth, but the sea-monster-like creatures have been rarely seen by scientists. As of August, only 20 oarfish had been recorded after they washed up along the coast of California since 1901, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, though one was seen in California as recently as November.
In Japanese mythology, oarfish are viewed as harbingers of doom, signaling impending earthquakes. But researchers in Japan debunked any significant link in a paper published in 2019.
Oarfish typically dwell at depths of around 650 feet, but have been found living much deeper, up to 3,280 feet, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
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