The long, silvery oarfish is rarely seen at large, but a group of tourists recently captured footage of two swimming off the coast of Baja, Mexico.
The creatures, which include the 36-foot-long giant oarfish, reside in the ocean's depths and are usually only seen when the fish wash up dead on the beach, according to Discovery News.
The oarfish holds the world record for being the largest bony fish. It eats tiny zooplankton and small prey such as squid, shrimp and fish. The creature's own meat is similar to jelly in consistency and not valued on the market.
The four known species of oarfish live around 3,000 feet down in temperate and tropical waters around the world. Even though they can be found worldwide, oarfish are rarely encountered by humans because they prefer deeper waters.
The health of the oarfish recently spotted in Mexico is unknown, but generally the animals only come close to shore if they are sick. Two dead oarfish were discovered last year off the California coastline, one of which was 18 feet long.
The fish's appearance is a harbinger of an earthquake, according to legend. While science hasn't proved the myth yet, oarfish could be appearing around the time of earthquakes.
"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," Kiyoshi Wadatsumi, director of nonprofit earthquake prediction research organization e-PISCO, told the Japan Times after numerous oarfish came near the Japanese coast in 2010.
The two oarfish from last year were discovered shortly after earthquakes in Los Angeles and Chile, while the 2010 sightings happened around the time of an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile, according to Discovery News.
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