CNN and USA Today reported on the 20th that the appearance of large deep-sea fish, often considered a bad omen, was seen for the third time in the last three months off the coast of California.
According to the Scripps Oceanographic Research Institute at the University of California (UC) San Diego, a large mountain hairtail measuring 9 to 10 feet (2.7 to 3 meters) was found dead on Grand View Beach in northern San Diego on the 6th.
Earlier in August, the same 3.6-meter-long fish was found on San Diego's La Jolla Cove beach, and in September, the same fish was washed away dead and sent to a lab in Huntington Beach, Orange County, north of San Diego.
This large mountain hairtail lives in the deep sea about 900 meters deep and is a species rarely seen by humans. It grows up to 9m and features red-headed fins reminiscent of crowns.
In Japan, there is a myth that when these deep-sea fish appear in shallow waters, they are a precursor to earthquakes and tsunamis.
According to the U.S. non-profit environmental organization 'Ocean Protection', at least 12 large mountain hairtails were reported to have been found off the coast of Japan in 2010, the year before the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011.
As a result, it has been hypothesized that deep-sea fish are washed up on the beach due to tectonic fluctuations just before an earthquake occurs.
These fish are rarely found alive because they tend to leave their natural habitat only when they are in trouble.
Due to this background, large mountain hairtails are sometimes referred to as "Doomsday Fish," CNN and others reported.
However, in 2019, a study found that there was no correlation between the appearance of the beach and the earthquake in Japan.
The Scripps Institute of Oceanography recently explained why mountain hairtails have been frequently found on California beaches, saying, "It may be related to changes in the marine environment or to an increase in the number of mountain hairtails."
"Recent red tides coupled with Santa Ana winds (local gusts in the western U.S.) last week, and many other variables may have affected it," it added.
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