Two huge living sea monsters – often cited as ‘harbingers of doom’ – have been rescued after getting stranded on a beach.
They were spotted by Monica Pettinger and her family.
The 10-foot-long creatures were deep-sea oarfish, which are rarely seen by humans.
READ MORE: Park rangers go viral finding huge snake hiding in toilet
- Advertisement -
Monica was on holiday when the incident happened.
“We were on the beach when my sister-in-law Katie spotted something in the distance struggling in the sand,” she told What’s The Jam.
“She immediately ran toward it.
“I figured it would be gone by the time I caught up – but it wasn’t.
“Before I even had a chance to look up what kind of fish it was or whether it was dangerous, she was already pushing it back into the water.
- Advertisement -
“The first fish was flopping so violently on the sand that its tail actually detached.
“After Katie got it back into the water we started walking to our chairs when we noticed another oarfish nearby.
“The tailless one was trying to beach itself again.
- Advertisement -
“They were surprisingly heavy, and it took everything Katie had to push the second one back into the water.
“She managed to get them both offshore, though neither looked very healthy.”
The family, from Forth Worth Texas, was on holiday at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at the time.
Monica added: “To my knowledge, it’s incredibly rare to see one oarfish, never mind two at once, and I can confirm they are much heavier than they look.
“They eventually both went back out to sea.”
Their rarity and large size, and their habit of lingering at the surface when sick or dying, make oarfish a probable source of historical sea serpent tales.
Their beachings before storms have gained them a reputation as harbingers of doom, a folk belief reinforced by the numerous beachings before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
READ MORE: Amazing snaps of posing SEAL with beaming smile soaking up the sun on British beach
