Diving instructor Wang Cheng-ru was swimming off Taiwan’s coast when he came face-to-face with a creature of legend. It was an oarfish, a species that usually resides in extremely deep waters. As a result, it’s rare for a human to spot one, which has created myths around the oarfish. For example, the creature received the nickname “the earthquake fish” because local traditions say they only appear before or after a natural disaster. But Wang became one of the lucky people to witness a live oarfish in the wild.
Diver Finds an Oarfish in the Wild
“Many amazing animals can be found off Taiwan’s northeast coast, and the views underwater are very beautiful, but it was my first encounter with a giant oarfish,” said Wang. He has 15 years of diving experience. “The wounds on the giant oarfish may have been the result of a cookiecutter shark [or cigar shark] attack,” he added, commenting on the circular wounds spotted on the creature’s body. [1]
Despite local legends, he does not believe this encounter was a bad omen. Instead, he assumed, “It must have been dying, so it swam into shallower waters.” The one he found was estimated to be over 6 feet long. He appreciated the experience of swimming with such a rare deep-dwelling creature that usually resides in the far-off mesopelagic zone, about 200 to 1,000 meters beneath the ocean’s surface.
According to the Catalina Island Marine Institute, oarfish, in general, can grow up to 17 meters (50 feet long). [2] They are the longest bony fish on record and suspected to have led to mythological sea serpent stories. They swim in a straight, vertical position by undulating its long dorsal fin.
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“Their upward posture might be a feeding strategy,” said Mark Benfield, an oceanographer and ecologist at Louisiana State University. “because by looking up they’ll silhouette their prey against the down-welling light, and also minimize their cross section to any predators that might be looking for them.” [3]
Despite the legends, oarfish are not dangerous to people. They don’t even have teeth; rather they use gill rakers to catch plankton, krill, and other tiny organisms. They also don’t have scales. Tubercules and a silvery material called guanine cover their soft skin to protect them from the high pressure of their habitat.
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“Harbingers of Natural Disasters”
For some time, people assumed sightings of oarfish meant an impending natural disaster, but this has been debunked. “It’s hard to imagine what sort of phenomenon would occur before an earthquake that would cause these oarfish to leave the [mesopelagic zone] to move towards shore and strand,” said Benfield. For instance, theories than deep-sea seismic movement makes oarfish flee to shore don’t hold water since the species doesn’t live close to the ocean floor. And if this theory were true, other species would appear before an earthquake as well.
In 2019, a team of scientists investigated the “earthquake fish” theory by analyzing over 220 earthquakes and 336 reported sightings of oarfish. As Wang suspected, the myth was not accurate. “We began our research thinking that the appearance of deep-sea fish could become supplementary information for disaster prevention, but now we know that’s not the case,” said Yoshiaki Orihara, associate professor of Solid Earth Geophysics at Tokai University. “There’s no need for alarm if one appears. Knowing that it is difficult to predict earthquakes, we want people to be prepared in their daily lives.” [4]
So far, not much is known about the world’s longest-bony fish. The washed-up specimens reveal little compared to observing the creatures in their actual habitat. “I don’t think oarfish are that uncommon,” Benfield said. “I just don’t think we spend that much time looking for them. We don’t have enough eyes in the ocean.”
Keep Reading: Huge Fish ‘Kills Itself’ After Being Startled By Camera Flash In Aquarium
Sources
- “Divers Film Extremely Rare Encounter With ‘Earthquake Fish’.” Newsweek. Robyn White. July 5, 2023
- “Divers discover giant oarfish off coast of Taiwan, seen as symbol of impending disaster.” ABC 7 News. July 20, 2023
- “Mysterious ‘Sea Serpent’ Oarfish Resurfaces.” National Geographic. Rachel Brown. February 18, 2017
- “Video: Divers encounter giant ‘doomsday fish’ of Japanese legend off Taiwan coast.” Yahoo News. Ryan General. July 21, 2023