It’s rare enough to see a dead oarfish washed up to shore, but seeing one alive? Now that’s even rarer. A small oarfish recently swam to shore in Mexico, and beach goers were there to make sure it didn’t strand itself. A man who seemed to know just how rare of a spectacle he and his group was witnessing helped the deep-sea fish get off the beach and back into the water.
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Oarfish can grow to be 36 feet long, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History, and they typically live at depths of about 650 feet to more than 3,000 feet deep. This oarfish was small, and it had somehow made it hundreds—maybe even thousands—of feet to the surface of the ocean, and then all the way to shore. It would have experienced its last moments there on the beach had a man not redirected it back into the water.
FOX News is one of many news outlets that shared the video of the rescue, saying this happened on a beach in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Some people believe oarfish strandings are bad omens that foreshadow natural disasters.
See the rare oarfish that made it all the way to shore alive: