Latest news with #NevilleBarrett
New York Post
6 days ago
- General
- New York Post
‘Very rare' oarfish washes up on beach, sparking doomsday fears: ‘We're cooked, aren't we?'
Is there about to be an apocalypse? A rare 'doomsday' oarfish has washed ashore yet again — this time in Australia, sparking fears that a catastrophe could be around the corner. 'I just knew it was something unusual and weird,' Sybil Robertson told the Guardian of the 'fantastic' flotsam, which she discovered while walking her dog on Ocean Beach in Tasmania on Monday. Advertisement The Strahan resident became curious after seeing a streak of silver on the beach, and, when she approached, she realized that it was a massive sea creature. 3 An oarfish sighting is 'a very rare occasion when one washes ashore,' said Neville Barrett, a fish biologist and associate professor with the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. A beachgoer found the one above earlier this week in Tasmania. Sybil Robertson 'I could see it was a long fish, but I had no idea what kind of fish,' Robertson recounted to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 'As I got closer, I could see the beautiful coloring around its head, and the markings on it were fabulous.' Advertisement Aside from a few injuries, the shimmery specimen appeared to be in good condition. The Aussie posted pics of the serpentine sea creature to the 'Citizen Scientists of Tasmania' Facebook page, where marine experts confirmed that the ethereal-looking animal was an oarfish. 3 Robertson found the critter (pictured) while walking her dog on Ocean Beach in Tasmania. Sybil Robertson This particular specimen appeared to be around nine feet long, much smaller than their maximum size of 56 feet — the longest of any bony fish. Advertisement Scientists said the find was particularly special since the creepy critters generally reside at depths of up to around 1,650 feet deep. 'It's a very rare occasion when one washes ashore,' said Neville Barrett, a fish biologist and associate professor with the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. 'There's not many reportings at all.' He said that very few people have seen the denizens of the deep alive. 3 This giant oarfish was found washed up on the California coast in 2013. Catalina Island Marine Institute Advertisement In the unlikely event that the elusive critters do surface, they are likely sick or close to death, according to scientists 'Occasionally, when they are sick, apparently, they swim up to the surface for unknown reasons,' Barrett said. However, superstitious folks have viewed the oarfish as a sign of doom. According to Japanese mythology, the serpentine plankton-eaters will purposely rise to the surface and beach themselves whenever they sense that trouble's on the horizon. In fact, doomsday fears ramped up during Japan's deadly 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami when dozens of the pelagic beasts washed ashore in the two years preceding the catastrophe. Doomsdayers on Reddit felt this latest sighting was another sign of the apocalypse, with one writing, 'We're cooked, aren't we?' 'Tasmania should evacuate. Or batten down the hatches,' declared another. Advertisement A third warned, 'The oarfish is seen as a horrible omen. Like a black cat breaking a mirrored salt shaker under a ladder bad.' However, Barrett said he doesn't 'put much credence' in this theory, claiming that a beached oarfish is just a 'random event' — rather than a bad omen. 'There's no real evidence there's any linkage,' he said. 'I can imagine a significant earthquake could disturb mid-water fish and stun them and lead to some coming up, but that's at the same time [as the disaster].'
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Rarely seen metres-long ‘doomsday' oarfish washes up on Tasmania's wild west coast
At first it looked like a great silver streak on the sand. An oarfish, fantastically long and rarely seen, had washed up on Tasmania's rugged west coast. Oarfish, one of the ocean's longest fish, are astonishing creatures that grow up to eight metres long. Nicknamed the 'king of herrings' or more unkindly the 'doomsday fish', some legends and stories consider the animals to be harbingers of disaster. Sybil Robertson made the unusual discovery while walking on Ocean Beach near Strahan, on Monday. 'When I go out there, I'm the only person on the beach,' she said. 'It's really wild. There's nothing between here and Argentina.' On Monday, she walked in a different direction than usual and noticed a group of sea eagles inspecting the fish, which she estimated was around three metres long, on the sand. 'I'm five foot nine, and I've got a reasonable stride, [it was] a good three-and-a-bit paces,' she said. 'It was fantastic,' she said, although not realising what it was. 'I just knew it was something unusual and weird.' But her find was quickly identified as an oarfish when she posted a photo on the Citizen Scientists of Tasmania social media page. 'Its exceptionally unusual to see anything like that,' said assoc prof Neville Barrett, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania. Oarfish are an 'epipelagic' species, he said, living in the open ocean at mid-water depths of 150 to 500m, from where they are rarely seen or caught. 'We're just not out there,' Barrett said. 'We're not looking, we're not diving, we're not even fishing in that part of the ocean.' Oarfish are 'a phenomenally big fish' he said, which can weigh more than 400kg. He described them as a lazy fish with very little muscle that tends to float around, often vertically in the water, eating various types of plankton. 'They're not active feeders. They don't chase their prey. They're just nibbling on whatever's there. So they don't have to be very strong, or great swimmers,' he said. Very few people have seen an oarfish in the wild. Marine biologist Jorja Gilmore is 'one of the lucky ones'. In 2022, she was leading a small tour group of snorkelers on the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas when they spotted something strange in the water below them. This one was a juvenile, long and thin like a ruler, with tendrils that made it look a bit like a giant lure, Gilmore said. 'It was so bizarre', she said, 'like something from the deep sea'. The incredibly rare encounter is thought to be the first recorded with this species on the east coast of Australia. 'It's still the best thing I have seen in the water to this day,' Gilmore said. Robinson feels fortunate to have come across the fish in such good condition. A few hours later the head was gone, and the body was already decimated by crows and eagles, she said. 'It's just so interesting what you can find if you just keep your eyes open whilst you're looking around. It's just amazing.'
