You’re much more likely to encounter an oarfish while fishing in Animal Crossing than you are in real life. Yet, some lucky folks paddling along the coast of La Jolla Cove in San Diego just spotted the rare deep-sea fish. It was dead, but it still counts!
The rarity of an oarfish sighting can’t be stressed enough. Measuring around 12 feet in length, this silver, ribbon-like fish is usually impossible to spot: only 20 oarfish have washed ashore in California since 1901. This particular oarfish was discovered by a group of snorkelers and kayakers who happened to be oceanographers—it was an already unusual sighting by the exact group of people who would appreciate it most.
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The oarfish’s official cause of death will be determined at a NOAA facility. Eventually, it will be preserved in foul-smelling preservation liquids at the Scripps Marine Vertebrate Collection, home to the largest collection of deep-sea fish in the world, where researchers can continue to study one of the most enigmatic sea creatures on earth.
When they’re not dead, oarfish are usually found in the ocean’s mesopelagic zone, at depths of 656 to 3,280 feet below the surface—way too deep to be spotted by humans. This particular fish was probably injured or ill when it died.
In Japanese folklore, the oarfish is associated with natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. Thus, its nickname: the Doomsday fish. Coincidentally, California was just hit by a 4.4-magnitude earthquake two days after the fish was found. Spooky! Or maybe not at all, as scientific studies have debunked the connection between oarfish sightings and earthquakes. In any case, the finding presents an excellent opportunity for researchers to study a breed of fish they rarely get the chance to meet in person.
