The “doomsday fish” is seen off the coast of Southern California for the third time this year

() –– The elusive deep-sea oarfish, considered a harbinger of bad news, was spotted once again off the coast of Encinitas, California. It was the third sighting of the species in the state in the last three months, and only the 22nd in the last century.

The 9-foot-long oarfish was found on the shores of Grandview Beach on Nov. 6 by Alison Laferriere of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, according to a Scripps Facebook post. The dead specimen was recovered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service and transported to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, according to the publication.

“We sampled and frozen the specimen pending further study and eventual preservation in the Marine Vertebrate Collection,” Ben Frable, manager of the Marine Vertebrate Collection at Scripps Oceanography, said in the post.

Japanese mythology attributes the appearances of oarfish in shallow waters as precursors of earthquakes and tsunamis, according to Atlas Obscura.

In 2010, at least a dozen earthquakes were reported off the coast of Japan just before the country experienced its largest earthquake on record in March 2011, according to the Ocean Conservancy.

According to Natural World Factstheories emerged that the tectonic movement that precedes earthquakes kills species, causing them to end up on beaches just before an earthquake hits. However, a study of 2019 no correlation found between oarfish sightings and the occurrence of earthquakes in Japan, according to GeoScience.

The so-called doomsday species is rarely seen by humans and has not yet been fully understood by scientists, according to the Ocean Conservancy, as it inhabits the ecosystem. less explored of the sea: the mesopelagic zone, which is located up to 900 meters below the surface of the ocean.

“As with the previous oarfish, this specimen and the samples taken from it will be able to tell us a lot about the biology, anatomy, genomics and life history of the oarfish,” Frable said in the post.

According to a Scripps news release, the first oarfish appeared in La Jolla Cove in August. The 3.6-meter-long specimen was spotted by kayakers and divers near San Diego Beach, which is located next to two underwater canyons that funnel deep water toward the shore.

The fish was in good condition, according to the release, and was taken for analysis and conservation to become part of the organization’s Marine Vertebrate Collection. The collection is one of the largest of deep-sea fish in the world, according to Scripps.

Oarfish are often described as “sea snakes,” Scripps notes, and the species’ long “silver, ribbon-shaped body” can grow up to 30 feet. They are rarely seen alive, as they tend to leave their natural habitats only when they are in danger, according to Ocean Conservancy.

Another oarfish was discovered in Huntington Beach in September, but it was “pretty degraded,” Frable told . The reason why these oarfish appeared and died remains unknown and could be the result of many variables, he says.

“It may have to do with changes in ocean conditions and increasing numbers of oarfish off our coasts,” Frable said. “This grounding coincided with the recent red tide and Santa Ana winds last week, but many variables could be at play.”

Sightings of this species on beaches over the years have given scientists the opportunity to learn more about the mysterious creature and its survival tactics, according to the news release.

“This oarfish presents a unique opportunity to obtain fresh samples for genomic analysis, which will allow us to study the evolutionary adaptations that allow this species to thrive in deep-water environments,” said Dahiana Arcila, marine biologist and curator of the Vertebrate Collection. Scripps Marines in the release.