LA JOLLA, Cal. — October 21, 2013 — A 14-foot oarfish that washed ashore in Oceanside last week was about to give birth, according to a team of scientists who were busy dissecting the carcass of the rarely seen sea creature Monday and attempting to determine why it died.
The team, gathered in La Jolla at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said it’s too soon to know what happened to the oarfish, which was found five days after an 18-foot specimen was discovered dead off the coast of Catalina on Oct. 13. Oarfish sightings are rare because the long silvery fish typically live in water more than 600 feet deep.
Though experts were still studying the data, observers on social media were quick to spout theories about the deaths, ranging from fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster to the possibility that a major earthquake could soon strike Southern California. Japanese legend holds that oarfish beachings are a predictor of big temblors. According to news accounts, 10 oarfish washed ashore in Japan about a year before a devastating 8.9 earthquake struck the northeast part of the country in March 2011.
Scientists said Monday there was nothing to support a connection between oarfish and earthquakes.
“You would need more evidence to establish cause and effect,” said Milton Love, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “If someone drank a gallon of milk before a heroin overdose, did the milk cause the overdose?”
Read the full story at the San Diego Union-Tribune