Ancient fishing lore and modern marine biology are both unnerved by the number of rare oarfish that have been washing up along the Sea of Japan.

To fishermen, the legendary oarfish, a deep-sea fish that can grow to 15 metres long, heralds either a great catch – or an earthquake, The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported.

Since November, at least 19 have washed up in eight Japanese prefectures. Most were dead or died shortly after they were found.

It’s rare to see a http://www.educatedearth.net/video.php?id=3869live oarfish, long believed to be the source of stories about sea serpents and dragons.

Seiji Sasai of the Echizen Matsushima Acquarium in Sakai, Japan, found two in four days.

“It is baffling why these rare creatures emerged within such a short time,” he told Ashai Shimbun.

Oarfish normally live at depths of 1,000 metres or more.

“We have no idea where they spawn or how they grow,” Masaki Miya, a senior researcher at the Natural History Museum and Institute in Chiba Prefecture, said. “With few clues, it is hard to say why oarfish have been found one after another.”

Japan is the most earthquake-prone country in the world.

“In ancient times, Japanese people believed that fish warned on coming earthquakes. There is no scientific relationship between these sightings and an earthquake,” Hiroshi Tajihi, deputy director of the Kobe Earthquake Centre, told the Daily Telegraph.

The legend isn’t confined to Japan, but extends to other Asian countries. A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan March 4, following the 8.8 magnitude earthquake last month in Chile and the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12. A 6.0 earthquake hit Turkey on Monday.

The string of earthquakes is probably just a coincidence, seismologists told The Associated Press.

“I can definitely tell you that the world is not coming to an end,” Bob Holdsworth, an expert in tectonics at Durham University in northeast England, said Monday.

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