Rare oarfish swims on Mexican Beach: ‘No one’s going to believe this’

A rare oarfish was seen alive and swimming in the shallow waters of a Baja California Sur beach in Mexico earlier this month. 

Footage recorded shows the intricacies of the iridescent, ribbon-looking fish and its long, wispy red fins. 

By the numbers:

Oarfish can grow to more than 30 feet long, and live in the depths of the ocean between 660 - 3,300 feet deep. 

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Oarfish ‘doomsday’ fish

The backstory:

The preferred habitat of the oarfish is the very deep, dark parts of the open ocean. 

They rarely come to the surface, perhaps only when dying or disoriented, and occasionally wash up on beaches around their home range.

Throughout history, legend had it that seeing an oarfish was foreshadowing a disaster or destruction, and the unique-looking fish got its nickname as the "doomsday fish," according to Oceana. 

What they're saying:

At least one person in the group that spotted and recorded the oarfish was familiar with its rarity. 

"They’ve almost never been seen live," he said. "This is amazing; this is the smallest one I’ve ever seen."

"I think it came up here to die," he added, which was met with saddened groans by the group. 

One man tried orienting the fish back into the water, saying seeing one alive was a "really important find" and that "no one’s going to believe this."

Video showed the fish continuing to swim in the shallow water, but the group told Storyful that the fish came back at least three times. 

Deep-sea anglerfish

Big picture view:

The oarfish sighting is the second rare marine life sighting to make headlines this month. 

Last week, footage went viral of a deep-sea anglerfish filmed swimming in broad daylight in the Canary Islands.

It was perhaps the first time the fish had been spotted and reported at that shallow of a depth.

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