In folklore, huge oarfish are stated to foreshadow earthquakes, although proof reveals this is not the case. (Image credit: Above: PJF Military Collection/ Alamy Below: Dotted Yeti/Shutterstock)
Call: Giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne
Where it lives: In the mesopelagic zone of the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
What it consumes: Krill, plankton, shellfishes and squid
Why it’s amazing: According to Japanese misconception, oarfish are precursors of earthquakes, and their look signifies a trembling might be ready to strike.
In conventional Japanese legend, oarfish were referred to as “ryugu no tsukai” implying “the messenger from the sea dragon god’s palace.” Individuals thought oarfish would show up from the deep to alert individuals when an earthquake loomed. This misconception triggered a stir in 2011 when 20 oarfish cleaned ashore in the months before Japan was struck by the nation’s most effective earthquake.
While there is no proof to support the link in between oarfish sightings and earthquakes, in August 2024 snorkelers discovered an oarfish in California– 2 days before an earthquake struck the area. Researchers think this was a coincidence.
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Understood as the king of herrings or ribbonfish, the oarfish is the world’s longest bony fish. The types’ lengthened body is typically around 10 feet (3 meters) long, however people can grow to 36 feet (11m)– around two times as long as a giraffe is high.
An oarfish that cleaned up on a beach in Mexico in 2006. (Image credit: Eric Broder Van Dyke/ Getty Images)
“The striking nature of this long, powerful fish is what many individuals state generated the initial concept of sea snakes,” Russ Vetter, a biologist at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, stated on the podcast On The Line. “From starting to end, this has all the qualities you would desire in a sea snake.”
Oarfish do not have any noticeable teeth and rather filter water to consume small victim. “You might put your hand into the mouth, around the mouth, down the throat and not even scratch your skin,” Vetter stated.
These uncommon animals reside in the mesopelagic zone of the deep sea where there is no light– one factor we understand so little about them and why sightings are so uncommon. They typically live around 650 feet (200 m) listed below the surface area however can be discovered as deep as 3,300 feet (1,000 m).
Like other animals in this zone, oarfish swim to the surface area during the night to discover food before going back to the security of the deep throughout the daytime. In the uncommon circumstances that oarfish are seen in shallow waters, they are generally ill, passing away or were captured in strong currents.