On an empty stretch of sand in western Tasmania, something long, silver, and unsettling recently washed ashore. At first, Sybil Robertson didn’t know what she was looking at—just a strange glint in the surf, already being eyed by sea eagles. It turned out to be a three-meter-long oarfish, one of the ocean’s most elusive—and most mythologized—creatures.Oarfish are deep-sea giants that usually live hundreds of meters below the surface. They drift vertically in open water, eating plankton and jellyfish, rarely seen alive and almost never spotted this close to shore. When they do show up, it’s usually because something’s wrong—sickness, injury, or, if you ask the internet, an omen of something worse.Once Robertson posted photos of her find to the Citizen Scientists of Tasmania Facebook group, marine experts quickly weighed in. Neville Barrett, a fish biologist at the University of Tasmania, confirmed the ID and said sightings like this are “exceptionally unusual.” A Giant ‘Doomsday Fish’ Just Washed Up in TasmaniaOarfish can grow to eight meters and weigh over 400 kilograms, but most people will go their entire lives without seeing one in person. “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.”That hasn’t stopped people from reading into their rare appearances. In Japanese folklore, oarfish are believed to rise to the surface ahead of natural disasters—earning them the nickname “doomsday fish.” That theory got a boost in 2011 when multiple oarfish washed up in the lead-up to the Fukushima earthquake. This latest find, naturally, kicked off another round of online speculation. “We’re cooked, aren’t we?” one Reddit comment read. “Tasmania should evacuate,” joked another.Barrett isn’t convinced. “There’s no real evidence there’s any linkage,” he said. A sick fish showing up on a beach is probably just that. Still, when a ghostly, ribbon-like creature floats in from the deep, it’s hard not to wonder what else might be on the way.By the time Robertson returned to the beach hours later, the fish’s head was gone, and crows had torn into the body. But the moment stuck with her. “It was just amazing,” she said. “You never know what’s going to turn up if you’re paying attention.”The post A Giant ‘Doomsday Fish’ Just Washed Up in Tasmania and People Are Freaking Out appeared first on VICE.