‘Doomsday’ fish found on beaches are raising fears of an impending disaster

A rarely seen ‘doomsday’ fish was found ashore on a beach in Mexico, sparking fears of an impending disaster.

Surfers spotted the creature, known as an oarfish, on the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula.

The enormous fish, about the length of a surfboard, had a silver-blue body with a beautiful red fin running down its back, but had an injured tail.

They can grow up to 36 feet long and weigh more than 441 pounds.

According to legend, the fish are harbingers of earthquakes and other natural disasters.

A local resident who witnessed the scene in Mexico said: “They say those fish appear when a very strong tsunami is about to come.”

Although scientists have not proven a link, 20 oars washed ashore months before Japan was hit by a devastating tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people and triggered a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in March 2011. Richter led.

While the fish was the first seen in Mexico in 2025, one was spotted in California a month before it was rocked by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake last year.

A rarely seen ‘doomsday’ fish was found ashore on a beach in Mexico, sparking fears of an impending disaster. Surfers spotted the creature, known as an oarfish, on the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula

The young surfers quickly ran to the fish, picked it up with their boards and brought it back into the ocean.

Due to their size and shape, oars resemble ‘sea serpents’ and are seen as a sign of things to come in Japanese mythology, where they are known as ‘the messenger from the sea dragon god’s palace’.

Legend says that oarfish live among the islands of Japan and come to the surface to warn people of an upcoming earthquake.

But the creatures are found all over the world and live at depths ranging from 200 meters to 3280 meters below the surface.

Their body is scaleless and the skin has a slimy, silvery protective layer known as guanine.

The Japanese myth was reignited in 2011 after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

On March 11, a catastrophic 9.1 mega-magnitude earthquake rumbled for six minutes just 72 kilometers east of Japan, sending waves of up to 40 meters (nearly 700 kilometers per hour) hitting the country.

The waves had enough energy to travel six miles inland, destroying critical infrastructure, homes and offices on the east coast.

According to legend, the fish are harbingers of earthquakes and other natural disasters. A local resident who witnessed the scene in Mexico said: 'They say those fish appear when a very strong tsunami is about to come'

According to legend, the fish are harbingers of earthquakes and other natural disasters. A local resident who witnessed the scene in Mexico said: ‘They say those fish appear when a very strong tsunami is about to come’

More recently, an oar washed ashore in California last November.

Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have released photos of a dead oar found on the shore of Grandview Surf Beach in Encinitas.

Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have released photos of a dead oar found on the shore of Grandview Surf Beach in Encinitas.

And in December, the state was rocked by a major earthquake that prompted a tsunami warning.

The earthquake struck at 10:44 a.m., 45 miles off the coast of Eureka, and an aftershock was felt in San Francisco shortly afterwards.

The subsequent tsunami warning was sent to California phones, telling them to seek higher ground immediately.

“You’re in danger!” it warned. By 12:00 noon PST, the tsunami warning had been lifted.

But the initial impact shook households and stirred waves in backyard pools.

California is bisected by the San Andreas Fault, the boundary between the Pacific Ocean and North America tectonic plates, which is prone to earthquakes.