Three fishermen in Mexico told of the moment they caught a massive, 60 kilo oarfish, known as as the "harbinger of doom", from the jaws of five snapping sharks.
A video reveals the moment a deep sea fish, believed by many to predict earthquakes, was rescued by a group of fishermen from a swarm of sharks.
The crew of a small boat were fishing for marlin in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of Baja California Sur in Mexico when they spotted the something thrashing around in the water and notice the sharks biting at an oarfish's long tail. The managed to reach into the water and drag the fish - which was still alive - onboard to safety. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the oarfish died shortly afterwards.
Images of the dramatic moments were shared online by the Pisces Sportfishing Fleet on 29. The video shows three men, Tony Frasconi and his friends, Ken and Gary, all with American sounding accents, introduce themselves to the camera. They then explain what happened, with Tony remarking: "The sharks had bitten the tail off it, and were biting the tail. So we grabbed it and put it on the boat. When we put it on the boat, it was still alive."
The fish they captured measured around 9.8ft, around three metres, in length and weighed about 64 kilos. Understanding the rarity of their find, Tony adds: "These are very rare, I don’t think there’s ever been one brought into Cabo San Lucas that I know of," before the crew explain that they took the body of the fish to be studied by a team of marine biologists in La Paz.
The oarfish has somewhat of a notorious reputation and are considered by many cultures to be "harbingers of doom". Believed to be one of the longest fish in the sea, they can grow up to 55 feet in length and weigh over 200 kilos and live deep down in the darkest depths of the ocean, between 200 and 1,000 meters down.
Therefore, sightings of these fish are extremely uncommon and part of this plays into the belief that spotting one on the shore or close to the waters surface is a sign that something bad is going to happen - usually, locals believe they foreshadow natural disasters, hence their nickname the "earthquake fish".
Views of the video flocked to the comments to share their thoughts, with one user saying "The harbinger of doom," and another joking: "Hah! Sharks finally got taxed." One simply said: "Earthquakes."