A harbinger of disaster? Second "Doomsday Fish" found on California coast in three months

In California, for the second time this year, a rare flounder fish known as a "doomsday fish" because of legends linking it to natural disasters has been dumped on a beach.

The nearly three-metre-long creature was discovered last week on a beach in Encinitas, in southern California, by graduate student Alyson Laferriere of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

The belt fish, which can grow up to 6 metres in length, lives at depths of about 1,000 metres where sunlight does not penetrate. Because of their rarity and mystery, these ribbon-shaped fish have been shrouded in legend for centuries. In particular, their appearance is associated with omens of earthquakes.

This legend became particularly famous in 2011, when in Japan, a few months before the devastating earthquake and tsunami, about 20 of these fish washed ashore. This coincidence reinforced the belief that the appearance of the flake fish could herald seismic activity.

However, scientists are sceptical about such a connection. According to the Scripps Institute, since 1901, there have only been 21 recorded sightings of the fish on the California coast. The current case is the second in 2024, following the discovery of a 12-metre-long flapper fish off the coast of San Diego in August.

Some experts speculate that the increase in such finds could be due to changes in ocean conditions, such as El Niño or La Niña phenomena, affecting water temperatures and currents. This could be causing deep-sea creatures to rise closer to the surface.

The flukes are an incredibly rare species. Their deep-sea habitat makes them difficult to study, and every discovery is a big deal," said Ben Frable, a fish specialist at the Scripps Institution.

The research team collected specimens for further analysis, including studying the fish's internal organs. The plan is to use the specimen to create the first high-quality genome of a species that has so far been little studied by scientists.

Despite its grim reputation, the flapper fish is a harmless creature that feeds on plankton and small fish. Its impressive size and unusual body shape have often been the source of myths and legends.