Rare Giant Oarfish 'Messenger from the Sea' washes ashore California beach (Video)

A rarely seen oarfish is found washed ashore on one of Los Angeles' coastal isles, Catalina Island.



It's the fifth of the mysterious deep-sea creatures that have been found along the California coast since last spring.

David Chan, director of the Pennington Marine Science Center told to National Geographic “The fish could have been even longer, but it appeared to be missing its tail, but missing tails aren't unusual for oarfish, The animals are able to pop them off in a process known as autotomy. It's similar to the way certain lizards can amputate their own tails when threatened with a predator.”

The giant oarfish was first described in 1772, but it has been rarely seen because it lives at considerable depths, around 3,300 feet.

In Japan, oarfish have long figured into folklore. The oarfish there is known as the "Messenger from the Sea God's Palace" and according to traditional belief, if many of the fish wash up, it may signal a coming earthquake.