A fisherman’s capture of a doomsday fish has revived old superstitions linked to the fish, which is believed to forewarn disasters by appearing in shallow waters.
The event unfolded in the Philippines, where an oarfish was caught mere hours before a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan, the most significant in 25 years. Deep-sea creatures, oarfish, reside over 3,300 feet below the ocean’s surface. However, Japanese folklore suggests they venture into shallower regions anticipating seismic activities, a notion reported by Metro News. This specimen was found near Kalanggaman Island, about 900 miles from the earthquake’s epicentre in Hualien County.
Brenjeng Caayon, the fisherman behind the catch, interpreted the event as an ominous sign, directly associating it with the subsequent earthquake in Taiwan. He recounted the crew’s astonishment at the sight of the oarfish, a species unfamiliar to them, marking a significant shift in his belief towards the superstition.
The earthquake claimed at least nine lives and injured over a thousand people. This superstition is rooted in Japanese mythology, which posits that the slender, plankton-eating fish intentionally beach themselves before an impending tremor.
Read: Major 7.2 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan, Causes Tsunami Warning
Caayon, who has encountered oarfish before, was surprised by the size of this particular catch, which was nearly five feet long and weighed about 15 kilograms. The incident recalls a similar catch from the previous year, featuring a rare, silvery-white fish with distinctive features. The association of such marine creatures with earthquake omens gained prominence following the 2011 Fukushima disaster after numerous instances of these fish washing ashore before the catastrophe.
Despite these beliefs, Hiroyuki Motomura, a professor of ichthyology at Kagoshima University, stresses the lack of scientific evidence linking these phenomena, suggesting no cause for alarm.
