Oarfish: Rarely seen deep sea fish is found off San Diego coast, and scientists want to know why

SAN DIEGO — A hardly ever seen deep sea fish resembling a serpent was discovered floating lifeless on the ocean floor off the San Diego coast and was introduced ashore for research, marine consultants stated.

The silvery, 12-foot-long oarfish was discovered final weekend by a bunch of snorkelers and kayakers in La Jolla Cove, north of downtown San Diego, the Scripps Establishment of Oceanography stated in an announcement.

It is solely the twentieth time an oarfish is thought to have washed up in California since 1901, in keeping with establishment fish skilled Ben Frable.

Scripps famous that oarfish have a legendary repute as predictors of pure disasters or earthquakes, though no correlation has been confirmed.

Oarfish can develop longer than 20 ft and usually stay in a deep a part of the ocean known as the mesopelagic zone, the place mild can’t attain, in keeping with the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Swimmers introduced the La Jolla Cove oarfish to shore atop a paddleboard. It was then transferred to the mattress of a pickup truck.

Scientists from NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Middle and Scripps deliberate a necropsy on Friday to attempt to decide the reason for dying.