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‘Doomsday fish’ washes up on Mexico beach, sparks alarm. Watch

A video shared on social media captured the striking, brightly coloured fish as it washed up on the shore.

Oarfish have long been seen as omens of impending disasters (Image source: @FearedBuck/X)

An oarfish, often referred to as the ‘doomsday fish,’ was spotted off the coast of Mexico earlier this month. On February 9, a group of beachgoers encountered the rare fish swimming near Playa El Quemado beach in Baja California Sur, AccuWeather reported.

Robert Hayes, a beachgoer, witnessed the oarfish struggling in shallow waters. In an interview with AccuWeather, he shared his experience, saying, “The fish swam right towards us, lifting its head above the water.” Hayes and others attempted to guide the fish back to the sea multiple times, but it repeatedly returned to shore, Storyful reported.

Sharing the viral video, X user @FearedBuck wrote, “A deep-sea creature rarely seen by humans called the oarfish has washed ashore in Mexico! Legend has it that this mysterious ‘doomsday fish’ only emerges from the ocean’s depths when disaster is near.”

Watch here:

A deep-sea creature rarely seen by humans called the oarfish has washed ashore in Mexico!

Legend has it that this mysterious “doomsday fish” only emerges from the ocean’s depths when disaster is near 👀
pic.twitter.com/NciJ7jbEbo

— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) February 18, 2025

The video garnered nearly five million views, igniting concerns about a potential natural calamity. Reacting to it, a user wrote, “Earthquakes probably.” Another user commented, “The oarfish has been nicknamed the ‘doomsday fish’ because, historically, appearances of the fish were linked with subsequent natural disasters, namely earthquakes or tsunamis.”

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“Well send it back. We don’t have time for disasters right now,” a third user said.

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Oarfish have long been seen as omens of impending disasters. According to the Ocean Conservancy, a non-profit environmental advocacy group based in Washington D C, United States of America, they are believed to signal earthquakes or destruction. This belief, which stems from Japanese folklore, gained widespread attention in 2011 when 20 oarfish were spotted before the most destructive tsunami in Japan. More recently, in November 2024, an oarfish was found on Grandview Beach, California, and a month later, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck, triggering tsunami warnings.