People were surprised to see an extremely rare, giant sea serpent from the deep washed up on a New Zealand beach. The strange-looking sea creature was an oarfish stranded in Aramoana Beach in Dunedin on Monday afternoon, April 25.
It has been seven years since the locals spotted an oarfish on their shore, which is a bit smaller and only measures 9.8 feet (3 meters) compared to the recent one that measures almost 12 feet (3.6 meters).
A giant oarfish is the longest bony fish in the world. According to National Geographic, giant oarfishes could grow up to 56 feet (17 meters) long and weigh up to 600 pounds (270 kilograms).
Many refer to oarfishes as the "real sea serpent" due to their massive size. These creatures are likely the source of many historic tales of sea monsters and sea serpents, but they are harmless. Oarfish feeds on tiny plankton and doesn't have real teeth.
Bank's Oarfish, circa 1850.
Sea Serpent Found Not the Biggest One That Washed Up on the Beach
Dunedin local Isaac Williams found the oarfish stranded on Aramoiana Beach. At that time, marine biologist Bridie Allan was also relaxing on the beach and saw the serpent-like marine animal. Allan told Newsweek that she noticed William seemingly searching in the water for something and decided to take a look.
She was able to identify the creature as the extremely rare oarfish, which is only the fifth time it was spotted in New Zealand. The fish was still alive, albeit weak. So a group on the beach tried to return it to the water but failed.
A video of the oarfish pic.twitter.com/w1trQjkg27
— Bridie Allan (@_seachange) April 25, 2022
Allan shared a video on Twitter showing the ginormous beast. She told the news outlet that she did not take the oarfish as a specimen, although she wished she had done that.
On the other hand, Williams can be seen carrying the fish out of the water and onto the sand. He described the fish as somewhat like a shark but felt like a dolphin.
According to Allan, they tried to get the oarfish back into deeper water. However, it was barely alive and kept coming in on the waves.
The harmless sea serpent didn't look injured but Allan, a Marine Science lecturer and researcher, said she had read that oarfishes "will hang around the surface when sick and dying." The one that Williams found was noticeably struggling and barely alive.
The people believe the marine animal came from the deep-water canyons near the coast of Otago. At 12 feet long, the oarfish recently found is quite small compared to those washed up onshore before.
Does the Appearance of Oarfish on Land Mean Disaster?
Finding an oarfish on the shore is a rare occurrence since these species live in the deep sea, according to Live Science. So when an oarfish suddenly appears, people usually assume that an earthquake will occur next.
For instance, people claim that it signaled the tsunami in Japan in 2011 when about 20 oarfish were stranded on the country's beaches. In Japanese culture, the oarfish is a messenger from the sea god's palace, so it is natural for people to believe this claim.
However, a 2019 study published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America debunked the claim. Seismologist Yoshiaki Orihara and his colleagues pointed out that there was no significant evidence that could confirm the claims and connect the two phenomena.
The team wrote that if the appearance of deep-sea creatures is indeed a signal of an upcoming disaster, it would be useful for disaster mitigation by suggesting that the movement of tectonic plates could generate electromagnetic currents that drive deep-sea animals into the shallow waters.
Scientists know very little about the habits of oarfish and other deep-sea animals because they live at such depths and rarely venture into shallow waters.
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