Every now and again a beast from the deep floats up to the surface to terrify us land dwellers. This time a 13ft eel-like fish has washed ashore in Mexico and many believe that it could mean bad news.
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The 4-metre oarfish was filmed by aquaculture engineer Fernando Cavalin and his friend David de Zabedrosky, being washed ashore.
The event took place on Baja California’s Pichilingue Bay in La Paz, Mexico and the video shared on Twitter shows the two men standing a metre apart while holding up the giant fish... because what else is a man supposed to do with a giant fish but to pose with it on camera.
One of the men, Cavalin, discussed their findings with local media Infobae and stated that the fish was dead and in an early stage of decomposition:
A fish's protein is never wasted and there are other organisms which could take advantage of ti for their consumption.
However, the Oarfish has been subject to much folklore in recent years and many believe that the fish is a sign of coming earthquakes.
The rumour comes as just prior to the Fukushima earthquake dozens of the fish were found washed up along the shores of Japan.
Also, on June 11 of this year, another oarfish was spotted washed ashore in Quintana Roo, only to be followed by an earthquake that struck Oaxaca on June 23.
After the clip went viral on Twitter many people spewed out their conspiracy theories about the freaky fish. One commenter stated:
You should think a bit about 'the omen' that this fish brings, since living from 20 to 200 meters deep they are much more sensitive to what happens at the bottom of the sea.
Another viewer chimed in:
These fish only come to the surface when something very bad is about to happen, it has always been like this.
A third stated:
It is said that they go out when they see a great earthquake, and it is bad luck for those who find them, they are generally dead and do not kill them.
Many scientists over the years have pointed out that oarfish have resurfaced many times without proceeding a natural disaster. A study was published in 2019 that analysed hundreds of sightings of the fish dating back to the early 1900s and found that there was no correlation between the sightings and natural disasters. However, we can't deny it sure is a spooky coincidence.
