What is the 'doomsday fish'?

(NEXSTAR) -- It is not common for the oarfish, a deep-sea, ribbon-shaped creature, to wash up on shore, but when it does, some believe it could mean that something bad is going to happen.

The oarfish is commonly known as the "doomsday fish".

The "doomsday fish" can grow to be up to 30 feet long and typically resides down to 1,000 meters in the mesopelagic zone of the ocean, according to Ocean Conservancy, making a sighting of the massive creature extremely rare.

Oarfish are filter feeders meaning they eat krill, plankton and other small creatures. They float vertically and use their reflective bodies as a type of camouflage. The fish also have clusters of red spines sticking out from it's back.

In Japanese, the oarfish is called "ryūgū no tsukai", which can be translated to "Messengers from the Sea God's Palace."

According to Yokai, an online database of Japanese folklore, the ryūgū no tsukai is described as a large fish with a human head and horns. It can have long hair or a beard and grow to be 18 meters long and gives off light.

As the legend tells it, these prophetic fish appeared on the coasts of Japan and brought news of a deadly disease that would only spare those who saw a portrait of the creature or those who heard its message.

In more recent history, the "message" these fish are said to bring is that of pending disasters, most notably earthquakes.

In 2011, the strongest earthquake ever to hit Japan also triggered a tsunami, which caused a nuclear disaster at a plant in Fukushima. The earthquake and tsunami killed more than 20,000 people. According to reports, several oarfish were reported on Japanese shores leading up to the earthquake.

An oarfish washed up near San Diego on August 10, 2024, and just two days later, an earthquake hit the area. A similar occurrence happened in Grandview Beach in Southern California with the sighting of the doomsday fish happening in November, and an earthquake striking the area in December of the same year.

Despite the common occurrence of these deep-sea creatures and earthquakes, researchers are chalking it up to superstition. The Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America published a report stating that "relationship between deep‐sea fish appearances and earthquakes was hardly found."

The Ocean Conservancy adds that when a fish that typically resides deep in the ocean comes to the surface, it could be a sign that the animal is disoriented, sick or could be dying.

Still, whenever these doomsday fish come up to the surface for a rare sighting, so does the legend of impending disaster on social media.