Tag: oarfish

Fishermen make rare catch: A doomsday fish, but with a seahorse head?

Oarfish live at great depths, are mostly seen washed ashore, and are a sign of impending doom, as legend has it, but rarely look like this.

Those familiar with oarfish know that they live at great depths, are mostly seen dead and washed up on shore, and are often referred to as a doomsday fish because seeing one is a warning sign of impending doom, or at least as legend has it.

And they are hardly ever caught by fishermen, since they live in depths from 600 to over 3,000 feet.

So it was a rare catch when two fishermen off the Top End of Australia landed the serpent-like sea creature and held up their prized catch, a giant oarfish, for a photo.

Skipper Curtis Peterson of Tiwi Islands Adventures led the night-time fishing excursion last week off Melville Island where the unidentified anglers made the catch, according to the Daily Mail Australia.

Related: Angler revives exotic sea creature in rare encounter

The image of the catch was posted on the Fishing Australia TV Facebook page where commenters questioned the odd-looking head that looked like a seahorse or an oarfish with a horse’s head. But one commenter correctly explained that the mouth is extended, much like a John Dory fish.

One feature of the oarfish is a “protrusible mouth,” or a mouth capable of being extended, which might have occurred while being caught.

It is worth noting that this is the first recorded sighting of an oarfish in the Top End, according to Yahoo Australia.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever heard someone land a fish like that up here,” NT News fishing columnist Alex Julius said, according to Daily Mail Australia. “It’s also very rare to land one of these fish, most being found washed up ashore already deceased.”

Photo credit: Wm. Leo Smith/Wikipedia Commons

A giant oarfish washed ashore near San Diego, California, in September 1996, and a group of U.S. Navy SEALS held up the 23-foot-long sea creature.

As for its reputation of being a warning sign of doom, well, it’s not true. Or is it?

From Live Science:

In traditional Japanese legend, oarfish were known as “ryugu no tsukai” meaning “the messenger from the sea dragon god’s palace.” People believed oarfish would come up from the deep to warn people when an earthquake was imminent. This myth caused a stir in 2011 when 20 oarfish washed ashore in the months before Japan was struck by the country’s most powerful earthquake.

While there is no evidence to back up the link between oarfish sightings and earthquakes, in August 2024 snorkelers found an oarfish in California — two days before an earthquake hit the region. However, scientists believe this was a coincidence.

Anglers discover rare oarfish under attack by sharks off Cabo

The Cabo San Lucas anglers were fishing for marlin when they spotted a deep-sea oarfish at the surface, being circled by sharks.

Part of the allure of deep-sea fishing is that you never know what you might encounter at sea.

But one can be reasonably certain that nobody would expect to encounter a 10-foot oarfish under attack by sharks.

The oarfish in question, a serpent-like denizen with crimson fins, was spotted floundering near the surface on May 28 off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Local angler Tony Frasconi and friends, Ken and Gary, were fishing offshore when they saw the oarfish with its tail-fin missing while being circled by sharks.

Pisces Sportfishing Fleet interviewed the anglers after they returned to port.

“Incredible catch today in Cabo!” Pisces exclaimed via Facebook. “This beautiful 141-pound, extremely rare oarfish, was snatched from sharks by anglers in the vicinity fishing for marlin.”

Realizing that the oarfish was dying, the fishermen gaffed and hauled it aboard their vessel. The “elusive and strange” creature was donated to biologists in the Baja California Sur capital of La Paz.

In a separate Facebook post, Pisces added: “This deep-water species is seldom seen and rarely this big. This fish is also known as the ‘Earthquake Fish’ as folk knowledge says they only appear when an earthquake is about to take place.”

Because of their size and bizarre appearance, oarfish are believed to have spawned tales of sea monsters among ancient mariners.

According to National Geographic, they reside mostly at depths of 3,000-plus feet and can measure 50-plus feet.

“Although oarfish were likely the source of many historic tales of sea serpents and sea monsters, they are hardly dangerous to people,” National Geographic assures on its website. “Oarfish feed on tiny plankton and have a small opening to their digestive system.”

Although oarfish sightings are rare, several have occurred off Baja California Sur over the years, generally involving dead or dying oarfish.

Scientists believe that oarfish can be forced to the surface by storms or powerful currents.

In Japan, some people believe that an oarfish sighting could mean that an earthquake is imminent.

The Los Cabos region has not recorded any significant shakers since the oarfish was brought to port.

Watch: Exotic sea creature washes ashore alive, baffles beachgoer

A beachgoer was baffled upon discovering a serpent-like fish in the surf, saying it felt like a shark but looked like “a dolphin thing.”

A beachgoer in New Zealand was baffled upon discovering an exotic sea creature languishing in the surf, saying it felt like a shark but looked like “a dolphin thing.”

Isaac Williams shot video of the serpent-like fish and marine science lecturer and researcher Dr. Bridie Allan of the University of Otago posted it on Twitter.

“What?” Williams can be heard saying in the video. “Whoa…It feels like a shark…What?…Look at this, it looks like a dolphin thing. Look how long it is. Wonder how it tastes…And it’s alive. I don’t know what the [heck] it is.”

The encounter occurred last week on a beach in Aramoana, a small coastal settlement north of Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand.

Allan noticed Williams investigating something in the surf and went to check it out.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler revives exotic sea creature in rare encounter

“As soon as I saw it, I knew it was an oarfish,” Allan told Stuff.

“It was alive but very clearly distressed…It was very weakly alive.”

The beachgoers attempted to get the oarfish swimming again, but it was futile, as it kept floating to the surface.

“It wouldn’t have survived, there is no way,” Allan told Stuff. “I’ve seen enough dead fish to know it was on its last legs.”

Oarfish inhabit waters 660 to 3,300 feet so they are rarely seen.

This oarfish was nearly 12-feet long, or roughly the same size as previous oarfish that have washed ashore in the area.

One of the first specimens of oarfish was collected from another Otago beach in 1883 and sent to London’s Natural History Museum; it was 12½ feet. An 11-foot specimen (a skeleton) washed ashore in 1887 and is preserved at Otago Museum. In 1960, a 12-foot oarfish was found at Allan Beach in Dunedin, and in 2015 a 9½-foot oarfish was discovered in Aramoana.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Video from inside the mouth of a tiger shark captured accidentally

These are small compared to oarfish spotted elsewhere. The largest is said to have measured 26-feet long. In 1996, U.S. Navy SEALS held up a 23-foot long oarfish.

So, what happened to the oarfish that washed ashore in New Zealand last week? Allan stated on Twitter that Williams eventually took it home to smoke it.

Mysterious deep-sea oarfish found on Baja beach; photos

A deep-sea oarfish has washed up on a Mexican beach for the second time in six weeks, the latest a 20-foot specimen discovered last Friday near La Paz in Baja California Sur.

A deep-sea oarfish has washed up on a Mexican beach for the second time in six weeks, the latest a 20-foot specimen discovered last Friday near La Paz in Baja California Sur.

Serpent-like oarfish, which can measure 30-plus feet, reside in tropical and temperate waters at depths of 600 to more than 3,000 feet. They’re rarely encountered but occasionally become stranded on beaches, dead or dying.

The 20-foot oarfish was found at Pichilingue, a port city inside La Paz Bay, by Fernando Cavalin, Tito Taylor and Laura Lafont. (See photos.)

Cavalin, Hatchery Manager at Earth Ocean Farms in La Paz, told For The Win Outdoors that the biologists were performing a monthly inspection at the facility’s intake area when they spotted the oarfish in the rocks.

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“It was a surprise,” he said of the afternoon discovery. “At first I thought it was alive but it was dead; probably died in the morning.”

Cavalin, who placed the oarfish back into the bay to become food for nearshore critters, told Big Fish that he discovered a much smaller oarfish at Pichilingue in 2015.

Last month, on June 11, an 18-foot oarfish was found dying on a beach in Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean Sea.

La Paz, capital of Baja California Sur, is on the Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California. Though oarfish sightings anywhere are rare, a handful of fairly recent sightings have occurred on Sea of Cortez beaches.

Last June, about 100 miles south of La Paz, two brothers on a fishing trip found and revived a juvenile oarfish and watched it swim away, but it was doubtful that the fish survived.

In 2012, in Cabo San Lucas on Baja California’s tip, a 15-foot oarfish washed ashore alive. A crowd of tourists gathered to watch an unsuccessful attempt to revive the animal.

It’s not sure why the denizens occasionally become stranded.

However, scientists believe that because the slender fish live at depths where there are no currents, and because they lack significant body mass, they struggle if they venture too high in the water column.

Cavalin said oarfish in the Sea of Cortez might languish in warmer sea temperatures during the summer, making them vulnerable.

Because of their bizarre appearance, oarfish are believed to have spawned sea monster myths among ancient mariners.

Some people believe that oarfish strandings portend catastrophic events, such as earthquakes. Cavalin dismissed this as superstition, adding: “It is just a fish, like any other.”

–Images showing Fernando Cavalin (black-and-yellow vest), Tito Taylor and Laura Lafont posing with the oarfish are used with the permission of Fernando Cavalin