Kelp, this can't be good.
A rare, huge fish known as a harbinger of doom washed up on a California beach, for the second time in just three months.
Dead paddlefish about 10 feet long – Rumored to be a sign of impending earthquakes – Kan It was found sprawled on the rocky shore of Grandview Beach in Encinitas by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, last week.
The researchers returned the body to her laboratory for preservation and to better study the biology, anatomy, genomics and life history of what was presumed to be a rarely seen creature.
This is the second in the institute's possession, as a dead 12-foot paddlefish was found in August by kayakers navigating La Jolla Cove, 20 miles south of Grandview Beach.
Paddlefish live in the deep sea and are rarely seen by humans. Even their bodies rarely float in shallow water, which makes last week's discovery all the more bizarre.
Only 20 paddlefish have been washed up in the entire state since 1901.
They are a “strikingly large, strange-looking fish” with a long, silvery, ribbon-shaped body that can reach 30 feet in length, according to the Oceanic Institute.
Oarfish have long been rumored to precede natural disasters, especially earthquakes — and a doomsday fish was discovered in La Jolla Cove just two days before a 4.6 magnitude earthquake hit Los Angeles.
However, researchers stressed that these claims have long been debunked and that recent oarfish sightings have been much less serious.
“It may be related to changes in ocean conditions and increased numbers of paddlefish off our coast,” said Ben Vrabel, director of the Scripps Marine Oceanographic Group.
“Several researchers have suggested this is why deep-water fish wash up on shores. Sometimes it may be related to broader shifts such as the El Niño and La Niña cycle but this is not always the case,” he said, referring to the warm and cool phases of the natural climate pattern across the tropical Pacific Ocean.
“There was a weak El Niño earlier this year. This drift coincided with the recent red tide and Santa Ana winds last week, but many variables can lead to this drift.
