Japan’s social media has gone into nervous overdrive following the discovery of a number of deep-sea fish traditionally thought to be harbingers of natural disaster.
On Monday, an oarfish measuring nearly four metres from snout to tail was found tangled in a fishing net off the port of Imizu, in the north-coast prefecture of Toyama. The fish was already dead but was later taken to the nearby Uozu Aquarium to be studied.
Two more of the slender, snake-like fish were discovered in Toyama Bay nine days earlier. A record four oarfish were found in Toyama Bay in 2015 but that could be surpassed this year.
