Around summer of last year, you might remember hearing about a “doomsday fish” or “earthquake fish” surfacing on social media. The viral video was showing what seemed to be a large fish, with a bite taken out of it. To the normal person, this fish would be nothing other than a strange occurrence, but to some, it’s known as a harbinger of bad times to come.
The real name of this fish is the “Oarfish”, and it’s mostly found between depths of 200-1,000 meters. They’ve been dubbed the “longest bony fish in the world”, and can grow up to 36 ft. long. Interestingly, this fish has no scales or visible teeth, unlike normal fish, and it’s often seen floating vertically in the water as a camouflage mechanism. These unusual traits have been rumored to be the inspiration of many of the myths of sea serpents found in history. Although this suspicion cannot be proven true, what we do know for sure is that in Japanese culture this fish plays a much bigger role than just a long fish.
Throughout Japanese culture, these creatures have been hailed as “messengers from the Sea God’s palace”, and as bad omens. It’s said that if someone sees one of these things washed up on shore, they can be sure that an earthquake is soon to come. An interesting fact when you consider that the sightings of these oarfish, and a major 7.6 earthquake in Japan, are only 6 months apart. Also, according to some news sources, around 20 of these oarfish washed up on shore in the months preceding 2011 Japan’s 9.0 earthquake.
But this isn’t the only instance of animals warning humans about natural disasters. In Turkey, Syria, animals of all kinds were witnessed acting erratically and strangely up to 45 minutes before an earthquake hit the land on social media. In fact, the earliest instance of animals being weird before earthquakes was in Greece, 373 BC. Plenty of animals reportedly fled from the city of Helice, days before an earthquake hit. All in all, it’s impossible to say whether or not animals can actually predict earthquakes, but it’s an interesting idea to consider.
