Researchers out for a leisurely swim in San Diego were shocked to find a dead 'sea serpent' whose appearance is often considered an omen of “doom.”
U.S.A. Today reported that several scientists from Scripps’ Institution of Oceanography were out snorkeling and kayaking at La Jolla Cove when a deceased, six-foot-long oarfish shockingly surfaced in front of them. Oarfish spottings are tremendously rare in California, numbering only 20 recorded sightings since 1901. Their appearance is often considered an omen of forthcoming catastrophe, specifically earthquakes which often plague the San Diego region.
Scripps contacted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who along with a Scripps Marine Vertebrate collection manager coordinated with La Jolla Cove lifeguards to recover the “large and heavy fish” from the ocean and transport it to a NOAA facility. After being photographed and examined by scientists, the oarfish will be put on display as part of Scripps’ marine vertebrate collection, which is one of the world’s largest collections of deep-sea life.
No one knows what caused the massive sea creature to surface so close to land, as they typically dwell somewhere between 700 and 3,280 feet below the ocean’s surface. However, Hiroyuki Motomura, a professor of ichthyology at Kagoshima University, told The New York Post last year that oarfish typically "rise to the surface when their physical condition is poor, rising on water currents, which is why they are so often dead when they are found."
Luckily, Motomura confirmed to the outlet that any relation between oarfish and earthquakes has yet to be proven by science.
