Oarfish Sighting Rekindles 'Doomsday' Myths Amid Rising Ocean Heat

Oarfish, one of the ocean’s longest fish, washed up on Tasmania’s west coast on June 2, reported The Guardian.

Also known as the “doomsday fish” or the “king of herrings”, these fishe can grow up to eight metres long. Some legends and stories consider the fish to be harbingers of dangers.

According to an old Japanese belief, oarfish is labelled as the doomsday fish because its appearance near the surface is thought to be an ominous warning of natural disasters.

In some cases, people have reported seeing oarfish washing ashore before major earthquakes, especially in Japan. They believe that the fish can sense underwater seismic activity and rise to the surface to warn humans.

Oarfish are an “epipelagic” species, according to assoc prof Neville Barrett, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania, that live in the open ocean at mid-water depths of 150 to 500 metres and can weigh up to 400 kg, making them a rare sight or catch.

He described them as a lazy fish with very little muscle that tends to float around, often vertically in the water, eating various types of plankton.

“They’re not active feeders. They don’t chase their prey. They’re just nibbling on whatever’s there. So they don’t have to be very strong, or great swimmers,” he said.

Very few people have seen oarfish in the wild. Marine biologist Jorja Gilmore is “one of the very lucky ones”.

Oarfish are extremely rare to encounter, with the first-ever recorded encounter being in 2022, reported TOI. A small group of snorkelers, led Gilmore spotted oarfish on the Great Barrier Reef in 2022. “It was so bizarre, like something from the deep sea,” Gilmore told The Guardian.

Folklore Meets Warming Reality

Climate change is disrupting ocean temperatures and currents, potentially pushing deep-sea species like oarfish closer to shore.

NOAA reported that marine heatwaves can displace marine life habitats by tens to thousands of kilometers. Meanwhile, a study published in the journal Nature stated that these heatwaves profoundly impact marine ecosystems, changing species distributions.