Why people sometimes see weird things.

[LadyForCamus]

Holy TITS!  That is one big fucking fish!

That was a small one.

Another pic:



They're very interesting fish;
I guess in Japan and perhaps other parts of Asia,
they are reputed to be harbingers of earthquakes,
since they have historically been observed to have a tendency of washing up on the shore
shortly before significant earthquakes are felt,
otherwise living deep underwater, near the ocean floor.

It explains why their existence was so fabled and mysterious.

Wiki article

From December 2009 to March 2010, unusual numbers of the slender oarfish
...known in Japanese folklore as the Messenger from the Sea God's Palace,
appeared in the waters and on the beaches of Japan,
the appearance of which is said to portend earthquakes.

Scientists claim that oarfish can be the cause for "Nessie Sightings",
because when they are sick or dying, they float near the surface of the water

Another article

Dozens of the deep-sea denizens were discovered by Japanese fishermen around the time a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile in March 2010.

Kiyoshi Wadatsumi, a specialist in ecological seismology, told the Japan Times, "Deep-sea fish living near the sea bottom are more sensitive to the movements of active faults than those near the surface of the sea."

On the other hand...

Holy fuck!!!! That is insane. I would certainly poop myself if that thing swam up to me.