Researchers out for a leisurely swim in San Diego were shocked to find a dead “sea serpent” whose appearance is often considered a harbinger of “doomsday.”
USA Today Several scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography reported that while snorkeling and kayaking in La Jolla Cove, a six-foot-long, dead oarfish shockingly surfaced in front of them. Oarfish sightings are very rare in California, with only 20 recorded sightings since 1901. Their appearance is often considered a sign of impending disaster, especially earthquakes, which frequently affect the San Diego area.
Scripps contacted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which coordinated with the Scripps Marine Vertebrate Collection Manager and La Jolla Cove Lifeguards to rescue the “large and heavy fish” from the ocean and transport them to a NOAA facility. After being photographed and studied by scientists, the oarfish will be exhibited as part of Scripps' marine vertebrate collection, one of the largest collections of deep-sea life in the world.
No one knows why this giant sea creature surfaces so close to land, since they typically live 700 to 3,280 feet below the ocean's surface. However, Hiroyuki Motomura, a professor of ichthyology at Kagoshima University, New York Post Last year it was noted that oarfish “come to the surface when their physical condition is poor, rise with the water currents and are therefore often dead when found.”
Fortunately, Motomura confirmed that any relationship between oarfish and earthquakes has not yet been scientifically proven.