Incredibly rare moment two oarfish swim alongside each other off coast of Japan
Incredibly rare moment two oarfish swim alongside each other off coast of Japan
This is the incredibly rare moment two reclusive oarfish were seen swimming together off the coast of Japan.
The 20ft long creatures - believed to be a sign of an impending disaster when they wash up on shore - amazed onlookers in Fukui Prefecture on February 15.
Japanese officials believe it is the first time in the world that two of the creatures have been recorded together swimming so close to the surface.
Oarfish are the longest bony fish alive and normally lurk in depths of 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) so they are rarely seen.
They can grow up to 56ft long (17 metres).
Marine biologists celebrated the rare sighting of not just one - but two - live oarfish on the surface of the ocean near Echizen city.
The beasts ventured close to a harbour walkway and stayed for around two hours before sinking back into the depths.
The nearby Echizen Matsushima Aquarium in said the footage taken by Koji Tabira and his wife, Kotome, both 28, while they were walking along the coast was ''extremely rare''.
''This could be the first time anywhere in the world that there has been a recording two of the oarfish swimming closely together.
It's an extremely rare and precious sighting,'' the museum said in a statement.
The couple said that the two fishes lingered for about two hours before they left the area.
They were ''captivated by the vivid blue colors'' of the fish, which they said they lost sight of after around 5:30 p.m local time.
Japanese folklore suggests that oarfish are messengers from the sea god's palace that can herald either a great catch or a disaster.
In recent years, the long, serpent-like silver oarfish have signalled imminent major earthquakes when they have emerged from the depths.
Around a dozen of the rarely-seen fish were found washed ashore in Japan in late 2009 and 2010 shortly before the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011killed more than 19,000 people and caused meltdowns at three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Diaiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
