A giant oarfish: the mirrored harbinger of earthquakes

The oarfish: they are not a mirror or a knife or a giant needle or a roll of tinfoil falling forever from its box, but an animal with bones. Photograph: Penta Springs Limited/Alamy

A giant oarfish, also known as the “king of herrings”, is an eight-metre long ribbon of silver, tapered at its tail and on its head wearing a permanently stunned face – as though moments ago it was a normal herring and then the world’s largest chef slapped it down on a benchtop and rolled over it with a rolling pin.

“These are unpredictable fish,” research biologist Milton Love told the New York Times 10 years ago. But in Japan, oarfish are considered highly predictable: they predict the future. See an oarfish, the story goes, and an earthquake will follow. In the months before Japan’s 2011 earthquake, one of the most powerful ever recorded, 20 oarfish were found on beaches. They’re known as “messengers from the sea god’s palace”, or jinja hime, “shrine princesses”.

Oarfish 🐟 pic.twitter.com/iftvlSkcO4

— Negde sa interneta (@negdesaneta) July 28, 2023