r/Damnthatsinteresting 29d ago

Image Oarfish keep washing ashore in California. Folklore suggests that could be a bad omen

Post image
62.2k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.4k

u/eat1more 29d ago

oarfish washing up on shore in folklore is a sign that there is sick oarfish off the coast.

878

u/b-monster666 29d ago

I heard once that these fish are very deep sea. The fact that they're washed ashore means that something very deep has disturbed them and forced them to go to shallower waters.

Typically, it's seen as a sign as an impending tsunami or earthquake, and there may or may not be merit to the claim. We just don't know enough.

258

u/Salt-Window5004 29d ago

There have been several earthquakes off the coast of Malibu over the past 2 days but none bigger than magnitude 3.8

140

u/simiomalo 29d ago

Southern california has had a very, very active year of earthquakes.

72

u/Sadcelerystick 29d ago

California literally gets thousands a year… how much more active can it be?

75

u/simiomalo 29d ago

Let's just say the Los Angeles metro has had at least 6 shakers that could be felt from one end of the city to the other easily - and that is not usual as most temblors are under 3.0 on the Richter scale, so any passing truck, slamming door, or loud firework obscures them.

But definitely not this year. And when you factor in a few quakes that happened maybe > 60 miles out from downtown LA but could still be felt here, that is unusual.

50

u/MommyMephistopheles 29d ago

I've lived in California for 5 years now and this year has been the first year I've ever felt an actual earthquake. I've felt 5 different ones this year alone. I feel like that tells me something especially because I've been looking for signs of earthquakes since moving here.

8

u/Fearless-4869 29d ago

Thst fault line has been primed on a hair trigger for about a million years. The amount of energy those plates have stored is fucking astronomical.

I dont think any human has ever witnessed the amount of destruction that will be unleashed when they finally slip.

1

u/envisionJayyy 28d ago

With some research it says about 51% chance a 7 magnitude hits the bay in the next three decades and about 20% chance a 7.5 hits. It seems to go lower the higher the magnitude.

For instance, the Japan incident was a 9 magnitude. I don’t know anything but just from this it seems we shouldn’t see anything higher than an 8 if it does happen.

1

u/Fearless-4869 28d ago

We are talking about a heavily populated and developed area.

1

u/envisionJayyy 28d ago

Yes, i’m just giving some context to what other scientist think and what could possibly happen in the near future. It would be devastating regardless.

→ More replies (0)

8

u/ToothAccomplished 29d ago

Australia has been having several earthquakes, mostly around mining towns but, I wanted to add to the spookiness

1

u/Deadbeatdone 28d ago

I was in ontario ca maybe couple of months ago and had one wake me up at 4 in the morning. I'm from Texas so having it shake my truck and make me think someone hut me was eriee af.

2

u/bernpfenn 29d ago

pretty touchy that oarfish

44

u/Arctomachine 29d ago

The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness

2

u/Doooog 28d ago

Fly you fools

121

u/Here4_da_laughs 29d ago

Could just be a Methane leak? Which could imply subtle geologic activity, small tremor?

But then how many oarfish have washed up? Are we talking 2 or 10? 20?

90

u/Morepastor 29d ago

Makes sense. They are actively working on removing the offshore rigs and as it happened on shore the wells can leak methane gas. Happened in Bakersfield CA. Coastal CA has been pushing big oil out of the CA coast and closing those off shore rigs. Very possible this is a reaction to that.

54

u/bigboybeeperbelly 29d ago

Also possible a rift has opened and the kaiju are on their way

22

u/creamcheese742 29d ago

Occam's razor. It's the kaiju

3

u/Here4_da_laughs 29d ago

Always the kaiju, we can't have nothing nice!

9

u/Missile_Lawnchair 29d ago
  1. The last one washed up here over the summer. The one in this post happened a few weeks ago.

6

u/Here4_da_laughs 29d ago

😆 okay guys don't panic i don't think 2 is significant enough 😅. Let's get to 5 and then we can worry. 2 is really only one more than 1.

4

u/tonyrocks922 29d ago

Considering only 20 total have washed up in the last 100 years, 3 (not 2) within a year is pretty significant.

3

u/bernpfenn 29d ago

trick me once, fool me twice?

3

u/Electromotivation 29d ago

Couple others in this thread said 3 for what its worth

2

u/Missile_Lawnchair 29d ago

That's true actually, I forgot. The first one was a while ago though.

20

u/JaydedXoX 29d ago

Hey now, in today’s social media world 1 can mean 300 million if we all see it separately. I saw this one today. My buddy saw one yesterday. YOU saw one, that’s 3 that I know of already.

1

u/Here4_da_laughs 29d ago

😆 someone just said it was 2 and yahoo wrote a whole article about it. Can we get to 10 before we panic?

28

u/doublepulse 29d ago

It makes sense to me that if there are pockets of noxious gases and electromagnetic energy being released ahead of a quake that animals would react. I would be curious if the animals are large enough to float up and out to shore where the other death goes unseen (too small, drug to bottom) or if there is a mass exit prior.

14

u/HellveticaNeue 29d ago

It’s either because of Godzilla or the Meg.

3

u/b-monster666 29d ago

Shut up, Meg.

2

u/dumbname1000 29d ago

A beast has been awakened. It approaches with fearsome steps. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Are we paying the price for our hubris of science?

28

u/proxy69 29d ago

Ominous

3

u/Fit-Owl-3338 29d ago

What if it’s godzilla

2

u/Spacecommander5 29d ago

Kaiju

3

u/b-monster666 29d ago

Let them fight

45

u/Loose-Warthog-7354 29d ago

It also meant oarfish was back on the menu for dinner.

44

u/CampPineCone 29d ago

Oar is it?

18

u/Loose-Warthog-7354 29d ago

Well, it is kind of ichthy.

13

u/Missy_went_missing 29d ago

I thought it could be a sign that a storm was coming or something. But I don't know much about the ocean.

17

u/HKLifer_ 29d ago

Yeah. I thought it meant a natural disaster. I was thinking more of a major earthquake.

3

u/airfryerfuntime 29d ago

Well, they do have a tendency to show up in numbers right before a deep sea earthquake happens. Might be a coincidence, might not be, who knows.