A deep sea oarfish washed up in Southern California. Japanese folklore suggests seeing the rare fish is a bad omen, some accounts say.

A rare fish, regarded as a harbinger of doom, has washed up on the shore of Encinitas in southern California.It is the second time this year that an oarfish has been found in the area.Sightings are very rare,

For the second time this year, an oarfish has washed up on a California beach. The 'doomsday fish' is considered a harbinger of doom in Japanese folklore.

The proximity of these strandings has reignited discussions about the oarfish's mythical reputation as a predictor of natural disasters.

A member of the Scripps Oceanography team spotted the dead fish outside of San Diego, California. The fish was estimated to be 9 to 10 feet in length, which was much smaller than the one recovered in La Jolla in August.

Kelp, that can’t be good. A rare, massive fish known as the harbinger of doom has washed up on a California shore — for the second time in just three months. The roughly 10-foot-long dead oarfish — rumored to be a sign of impending earthquakes — was found stretched out on the rocky shoreline of Grandview Beach in Encinitas by UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography last week.