A few hours before the most devastating earthquake hit Hualien City in Taiwan of magnitude 7.4, on April 3, a “doomsday fish” was caught.
The doomsday fish, which is the popular name for oarfish, was caught by Brenjeng Caayon, a fisherman near the Philippines on Kalanggaman Island. The fisherman believes that the fish forecast the quake.
As per The Mirror, the oarfish caught by a fisherman off the coast in the Philippines weighed 15kg.
Oarfish are popular for their ribbon-shaped bodies which are long. They can grow more than 30 feet.
On Friday, another deadly earthquake happened in New Jersey and New York City of magnitude 4.8 on the Richter scale. It is considered one of the strongest quakes in the history of the state, reported USA Today.
Connection Between Doomsday Fish and Natural Disasters
Believers are anticipating that the myth associated with oarfish has some connection with the natural disasters occurring.
The oarfish is nicknamed as “Messenger from the Sea God’s Palace”. It is a deep-sea creature which is rarely captured in the eyes of humans.
According to TimesNow, “the name ‘Doomsday Fish’ stems from a legend popular in some parts of the world, especially Japan.” It further claims that the oarfish’s appearance precedes natural disasters like quakes and tsunamis.
The legend gained the limelight when it was reported that a year before the March 2011 Fukushima tsunami and earthquake, around a dozen oarfish were found on Japan’s coast in 2010.
Notably, scientists continue to say that no such scientific evidence connecting major natural disasters and oarfish exists.
A professor of ichthyology at Kagoshima University, Hiroyuki Motomura, in July 2023 told the New York Post,
“There is no scientific evidence of a connection, so I don’t think people need to worry.”
He added,
“I believe these fish tend to 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.”
Robert N Lean and Richard Feeney released an article in 2018 in the Bulletin of Southern California Academy of Sciences about Oarfish. It states that, “it is common for oarfish to appear during the El Niño years.”
Due to heating up of the surface water in the sea, oarfish follow their prey comes to warmer waters.
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