What is the 'Doomsday fish' and why do people think fish signal the end of the world?

A rare fish has washed up on a Canary Islands beach, and some people have shared superstitions that the appearance of the creature spells signals impending doom for the world.

(Not alarming at all...)

On February 10, beachgoers discovered the long, ribbon-shaped fish, which isn't common due to its deep-sea residence —up to 3,200 feet—in the mesopelagic zone, where there is no light.

A clip of the stranded oarfish's appearance off the coast of Playa Quemada has gone viral with over nine million views on Instagram which shows the silver-coloured fish and its orange fins.

But this isn't the only recent sighting, it has also been reported that an oarfish was seen alive at the nation's Baja California Sur beach on February 9, as per AccuWeather. In this video, the creature could be seen swimming in shallow waters and when it stopped moving, one beachgoer tried to move it closer to the water.

Why does the oarfish have this negative association?

A nickname for the oarfish is the "doomsday fish" because when sightings of them have become linked with earthquakes, leading to the belief that over-six-metre-long fish can predict earthquakes or natural disasters.

This is what an oarfish looks likeiStockphoto by Getty Images

This comes from Japanese folklore where the oarfish is called "Messenger of the Sea God" or ryūgū no tsukai.

Experts on the possible reasons for this

The first consideration is that seismic activity under the seabed may have resulted in the oarfish washing up on beaches, that's what scientists say may have occurred back in 2013 when two were found on beaches in California.

Rachel Grant, a lecturer in animal biology at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge who has studied this occurrence has previously shared her thoughts on what could be the cause.

“It’s theoretically possible because when an earthquake occurs there can be a build-up of pressure in the rocks which can lead to electrostatic charges that cause electrically-charged ions to be released into the water,” Dr Grant commented on the seismic activity.

“This can lead to the formation of hydrogen peroxide, which is a toxic compound. The charged ions can also oxidise organic matter which could either kill the fish or force them to leave the deep ocean and rise to the surface,” she said.

Dr Grant also noted how a lot of carbon monoxide gas is released before an earthquake so another possibility is that this may impact deep-sea creatures like the oarfish.

Or the answer may be manmade machines that roam underwater.

“It may be due to seismic activity or it may be due to other factors unconnected with earthquakes, such as infrasound caused by underwater activities, such as military submarines, or pollution,” she said.

Elsewhere, a massive ocean was discovered beneath the Earth's crust, and there is one sea on Earth that doesn't touch any land at all.

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