“There is no scientific evidence of a connection, so I don’t think people need to worry,” Hiroyuki Motomura, a professor of ichthyology at Kagoshima University, told the New York Post. Though there were sightings of the fish ahead of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and Fukishima nuclear disaster, scientists believe the connection is spurious.

The legend says that the fish are sent from the palace to the surface to warn people of coming earthquakes. The fish is called “ryugu no tsukai” – which translates to “Messenger from the Sea God’s Palace” – and was believed to be the servant of the sea god Ryūjin. Oarfish in mythologyĪccording to Japanese folklore, oarfish sightings are an omen of an impending disaster. While the fish may have been inspiration for the tales of sea monsters, there are no reports of encounters with oarfish resulting in harm. Oarfish do not have teeth and feed on plankton through gill rakers. Though the sightings of live oarfish are rare, those who see them are in little danger. It earned its common name from its highly compressed and elongated body, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. The fish's scientific name is Regalecus glesne. In 1963, an oarfish was caught in New Jersey that was an estimated 50 feet long, and in 1885, a 600-pound specimen was caught in Maine. It is considered the longest bony fish in the world by Guinness World Records.

Oarfish can be found around the globe in non-Arctic waters and are characterized by their scaleless body covered in silvery guanine. The giant oarfish is a deep-sea dweller that normally lives at an depth of about 700 feet but has been found as deep as 3,280 feet. Lots of Legs: New millipede species with 486 legs discovered near Los Angeles What is a giant oarfish? “Many amazing animals can be found off Taiwan's northeast coast … but it was my first encounter with a giant oarfish,” Cheng-Ru told Newsweek. But the video shows that this oarfish appear to be wounded. Sightings of the glittering silver on its body are a sign of an impending disaster, according to legend. Watch the video above to see the oarfish encountered by the group. The viral video, originally published by diving instructor Wang Cheng-Ru in June, shows the group coming upon the deep-sea fish in shallow water off the coast of the Ruifang District on the northeast corner of the island.įootage of a giant oarfish is rare, because they usually are found 200 to 1,000 feet below the surface. A group of divers encountered a rare giant oarfish off the coast of Taiwan.

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