Rarely seen deep-sea creature washes up in CA for second time in months, experts say
A deep-sea dweller that rarely comes to the ocean’s surface washed ashore a beach in Southern California, making it the second one to appear in just a few months.
Now, researchers are trying to figure out what brought it.
The oarfish appeared on Grandview Beach in Encinitas, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said in a Nov. 13 Instagram post. The school is a department of the University of California, San Diego.
Alison Laferriere, a Ph.D. student, discovered the 10-foot-long fish.
This fish was collected for samples and then frozen, the school said in the post.
“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, manager of the Scripps Oceanography Marine Vertebrate Collection, said in the post.
Kayakers and snorkelers discovered a larger oarfish in August in La Jolla Cove, McClatchy News previously reported. La Jolla Cove is a neighborhood in San Diego, about a 20-minute drive south from Encinitas.
Researchers have some guesses on why oarfish are showing up in Southern California.
First, Frable said it could be due to changing ocean conditions and more oarfish in the area.
Or these rare appearances may be due to shifts in the El Niño and La Niña cycle, Frable said. However, this may be unlikely because the La Niña was weak this year.
Lastly, it’s possible the oarfish appeared after the red tide — when toxic algae bloom in the ocean.
And some may believe the fish is a sign of a incoming disaster.
What to know about oarfish
Oarfish dwell deep in the ocean where sunlight faintly reaches, according to the Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit advocacy group.
They have long, ribbon-like bodies with silver coloring, red spines, large eyes and small mouths with no teeth.
It’s uncommon for the strange-looking fish to make its way to the ocean’s surface, according to Oceana, an advocacy organization.
If it does, the fish may be dying or disoriented, the group said.
Oarfish have also been nicknamed the “doomsday” fish.
Some believe seeing the fish is a sign for a disaster. In Japanese folklore, it’s a sign of an approaching earthquake.
However, Japanese researchers said they found no link between seeing the fish and major earthquakes happening, according to an article published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 9:46 AM with the headline "Rarely seen deep-sea creature washes up in CA for second time in months, experts say."
