Rare ‘Doomsday Fish’ Washes Up on California Shore

An oarfish, a rare creature considered a symbol of impending doom in Japanese folklore, washed up on a California beach last week.

Just 21 oarfish have been recorded on California’s shores since 1901, including two this year.

Ben Frable, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography in-house fish expert and a museum scientist, said the fish will undergo a necropsy to determine its cause of death.