Crisis fish surface hours before the Taiwan earthquake

A recent catch by a fisherman fueled the superstition that is to be associated with a fish that appears in shallow water only when there is an expectation of impending disaster.

A man in the Philippines caught a giant fish just hours before a deadly 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked Taiwan, believed to be the strongest in 25 years.

The oarfish lives below the 3,300-foot depths of the ocean, yet, according to Japanese belief, it comes to shallow water when there is an earthquake, according to Metro News.

The report also noted that the fish was found on Kalanggaman Island, about 900 miles south of the county seat of Hualien.

Speaking about the catch, Brenjeng Caayon said it is no accident, linking it to the superstition that says, “This is a bad omen.”

“And it might be an omen because just this morning an earthquake shook Taiwan. I didn’t believe it before, but now I started to. I own a fishing boat and I had three fishermen on board. The crew didn’t believe they knew the kind of fish – it was the first time they saw it.”

The earthquake in Taiwan killed at least 9 people and injured over 1,000.

The earthquake superstition is based on Japanese mythology, which states that the slimy plankton eater will deliberately rise to the surface and beach itself before an impending earthquake.

“When I saw it, I recognized it immediately; I’ve seen an oar before, but not this huge,” said the 53-year-old.

The fish was nearly five feet long and weighed 15 pounds.

A similar fish was also caught last year with a rare and unusual silvery white monster fish with big eyes and mysterious holes in its body.

According to divers, the “earthquake harbinger fish” was about 6.5 meters long.

These fears were heightened during the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, as dozens of these sea creatures had washed ashore in the two years leading up to the disaster.

“There is no scientific evidence of a link, so I don’t think people need to worry,” said Hiroyuki Motomura, a professor of ichthyology at Kagoshima University.