TOKYO: Two rare oarfish, giant deep-sea serpents long believed by locals to be a harbinger of earthquakes and tsunamis, have been caught off the Japanese island of Okinawa.
Fishermen were stunned to find a pair of the silvery fish -- the bigger one measuring four metres -- alive in their nets late last month as the number of sightings of the mysterious creature in Japanese waters continues to rise.
"I had only ever heard stories about this fish," the Yomitan fisheries cooperative association's Takashi Yamauchi told AFP.
"When I saw them at the port, I was quite shocked."
The fish, caught off Okinawa's southwest Toya port on January 28, both subsequently died.
More than 12 elusive oarfish -- known in Japanese as "Ryugu no tsukai" or the "Messenger from the Sea God's Palace" -- have washed up on shores in Japan over the past year.