This month's sighting was only the 21st time the fish has been documented to have washed up in California since 1901, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

As for why people consider the oarfish to be a “doomsday” fish, NBC News explains that — as oarfish typically dwell in the deep ocean — the appearance of one suggests a coming natural disaster like an earthquake. About 20, for example, washed up prior to an earthquake in Japan in 2011, the country’s worst on record.

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.

A rare deep-sea oarfish, also called a sea serpent, washed ashore near San Diego in Encinitas, and Scripps scientists are unsure what happened.

A rare deep sea fish, regarded as a harbinger of doom, has washed up on a southern California shore. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, said one of its PhD students discovered an oarfish on a beach in Encinitas last week that was around nine to ten feet long.

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.

PhD candidate Alison Laferriere from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego discovered the nearly 10-foot-long oarfish on a beach in Encinitas, in southern California, last week. Oarfish are elusive creatures that dwell in the deep ocean — often as far as 3,

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

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,