Off the coast of Chile, some fishermen have caught an enormous fish known as the “King of the Herrings” as reported by The Science Times.
Bad omen
They brought the fabled deep-sea monster to the shore, where Arica’s fascinated citizens congregated. Conspiracy theories about the contentious fish see it as a “bad omen” that heralds coming calamity.
On TikTok, a video of the fish was uploaded showing its long, bony body and a hook on its head as the fishermen brought it to shore. The fish is roughly five metres (16 feet) long.
Legendary Deepwater King of Herrings Caused Worry in the Public
Oarfish are a rare deepwater fish that have gained notoriety as a result of rumours that they have the ability to predict the future. Numerous oarfish were reportedly spotted in Japan before the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, according to Daily Star.
Ten million people have liked the most recent video of an oarfish that was caught in Chile, but some commenters are worried that this could be a sign that an earthquake is imminent.
@l0st__sheep Have YOU heard of OARFISH? The ocean hasn’t been explored thoroughly & we keep finding strange sea creatures! #ocean #unexplored #seacreatures #wtf #oarfish #strangerthings #fy ♬ original sound – L0st__sheep
Some people remarked on how wonderful and frightening the fish looked, while others claimed that the oarfish surfaced as a result of feeling tectonic plate movement. Others, on the other hand, were more pessimistic and even blamed the fisherman for catching it since they thought that anyone who discovered such a fish would be cursed.
The oarfish inhabit deep waters and only surface during times of illness, demise, or reproduction. That’s why some people conjectured that these fabled fish would only come to the surface during bad weather or when the waters were at their deepest.
Oarfish Behavior: Study Finds they Do Not Predict Earthquakes
According to British Sea Fishing, oarfish (Regalecus glesne) is also known as Giant Ribbonfish, Earthquake Fish, Bank’s Ribbon-fish and are found in all seas and oceans except for the polar regions despite being rarely seen.
They have long, slim, tapering scaleless bodies covered in bright reflective silver and sometimes pecked with black dots.
Also, their body features include a large red dorsal fin, two smaller pectoral fins, and a head with a toothless mouth and wide circular eyes.
published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, reveals that a relationship between deep‐sea fish appearances and earthquakes was hardly found.
That means that the Japanese folklore about these phenomena is just a superstition.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe
Source: The Science Times
