A rare 16-foot sea creature linked in folklore to natural disasters has washed ashore in South America, prompting online speculation that a powerful earthquake could strike the seismically active region.
The giant oarfish, known in Japanese folklore as a “Doomsday fish,” was discovered Tuesday on a beach in Mejillones, northern Chile.
The elusive sea serpent is rarely seen by people. Since the 1600s, sightings have featured in Asian legends, where the creatures were often viewed as warnings from mythical deities.
Scientists have found no meaningful evidence connecting oarfish appearances with natural disasters. Nevertheless, beach strandings have repeatedly been associated by the public with deadly earthquakes and tsunamis that occurred weeks or months afterward.
The latest sighting comes as South America and the Caribbean experience a series of major earthquakes, fueling fears that Chile—or even the vulnerable US West Coast—could be next.
“Not a good omen,” one person wrote. Another claimed, “An earthquake is coming to the north.”
Geophysicist Stefan Burns, who has predicted that a major earthquake could hit the California coast by 2030, also reacted to the discovery, writing: “Here we go again.”
At least two other oarfish sightings have been reported in 2026, and both were followed within days by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
A 16-foot oarfish, also known as a Doomsday fish, was discovered on a beach in northern Chile on October 20
Also called oarfish or sea serpents, Doomsday fish usually inhabit waters 3,000 feet below the surface, making shore sightings extremely rare (File Image)
On August 25, a dead oarfish washed up on a beach along the southeastern coast of Indonesia’s Komodo Island.
Six days later, six Indonesian volcanoes either erupted or displayed signs of eruptive activity at the same time.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck the same region in early October. No injuries or deaths were reported following any of the incidents.
In late February, two American tourists experienced what was described as a “one-in-a-billion chance” encounter when two live oarfish came ashore at a beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
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The simultaneous appearance of two oarfish is considered exceptionally rare. The species normally lives more than 3,000 feet beneath the ocean surface, in the so-called “Twilight zone,” one of the least explored environments on Earth.
After the unusual discovery, a magnitude 4.1 earthquake was recorded less than 15 miles from Cabo San Lucas on March 23. There were no reports of injuries or significant damage.
The region was later hit by several hurricanes, including Polo, Simon and Rachel in September and October. The storms caused flooding, landslides and deaths along the Pacific coast.
Chile’s most recent major earthquake struck offshore slightly more than a year ago, on October 10, 2025. The magnitude 7.6 quake occurred in the Drake Passage, south of the country, triggering tsunami alerts along the coasts of South America and Antarctica.
The oarfish discovery quickly sparked ominous claims online that it signaled an approaching natural disaster or another catastrophe
‘The earthquake is coming!’ one commenter claimed after the Marine Fauna Research and Cetacean Watching Center in Chile announced the discovery on social media Tuesday.
However, despite the apparent timing of some oarfish strandings, a 2019 study found no credible evidence that the creatures are harbingers of disaster.
A team from Tokai University in Japan examined 336 reports of deep-sea fish appearances and 221 earthquakes stronger than magnitude 6.0 around the country between 1928 and 2011.
Their findings, published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, did not find a statistically significant link between the appearances of Doomsday fish and natural disasters, calling the myth an ‘illusory correlation’ rather than a reliable warning sign.
In the US, a 2018 study published in the Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences had found that there were only 19 oarfish strandings or sightings along the California coast over the last century.
Although scientists have claimed there is no connection to a future earthquake along the South American coast, Chile sits along one of the world’s most active tectonic boundaries capable of producing massive shockwaves.
The oceanic Nazca Plate has been steadily sliding under the South American Plate, which continues to build up the Andes Mountains, fuels volcanic activity and stores enormous stress along the two connecting plates.
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