A rare and almost mythical creature from the deep sea has washed up on a California beach in the form of an oarfish measuring more than 9 feet long!

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

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.