A rarely-sighted oarfish – believed to be a harbinger of earthquakes – has been found washed up on a beach.
Locals are anxious because the species are fabled for appearing just before natural disasters.
The elongated fish is usually found in the depths of the ocean and is rarely seen by human eyes.
The giant oarfish in question washed up on Los Coquitos beach in Pepillo Salcedo, Dominican Republic.
The spot lies near the Septentrional-Oriente strike-slip Fault Zone, responsible for the 1842 Cap-Haïtien earthquake and tsunami in neighbouring Haiti, which killed approximately 5,300.
The giant oarfish was first spotted by locals, who found it close to death.
Sadly, it later died.
José Ramón Reyes, Dominican Deputy Minister of Coastal and Marine Resources of the Ministry of Environment, told local media on Monday (27 Nov): “It’s a deep-sea fish.
“It’s unusual to find it at the surface.”
He tried to reassure the public, adding: “It doesn’t pose any threat, it’s a fish that typically inhabits the depths.”
Fearless kids were seen playing with its carcass in the water after it died yesterday (27 Nov).
It was about 6.5ft (2m) long.
The giant oarfish is thought to live at depths around 3,300 ft (1,000m).
It is the longest-known living species of bony fish, reaching a length of 56 ft (17 m) and weighing up to 600 lb (270 kg).
It is plentiful in the wild and feeds on tiny plankton.
Giant oarfish are rarely seen at the surface; scientists think they wash up when in distress or dying, or after storms or strong currents.
He said in a 2013 report: “Deep-sea fish living near the sea bottom are more sensitive to the movements of active faults than those near the surface of the sea.”
Oarfish are one of the longest fish in the ocean and can measure up to 56ft (17m)in length and weigh over 200 kgs (441 lbs).
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