16-foot doomsday fish in Chile triggers fears that the next earthquake is coming

A "doomsday fish" washed ashore on a beach in Chile on Tuesday (October 20), which people say is a bad omen. This marine creature is an oarfish, 16 feet long, and its appearance is believed to be a sign of earthquakes and tsunamis. While there is no evidence that ties the oarfish to disasters, the latest sighting has left people scared, especially since South America and the Caribbean have witnessed massive earthquakes in the past months.

Colombia and Venezuela were struck by major earthquakes in 2026, with Peru and Chile also witnessing seismic activity. The doomsday fish live in extremely deep waters, at depths greater than 3,000 feet, and look like serpents. It does not come to the surface, with only a handful of sightings reported in the past decades. According to a 2018 study published in the Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, only 19 of them have been seen in California over the past century.

Also Read: Doomsday fish washed ashore in Indonesia. 6 days later, 6 volcanoes erupted in the country

The sighting in Chile has triggered fears that the country could be next in the series of earthquakes. The US West Coast could also witness an earthquake, something geophysicist Stefan Burns has already predicted could happen by 2030. After learning about the doomsday fish, he wrote on X, “Here we go again.” A user wrote, "An earthquake is coming to the north."

When doomsday fish sightings were followed by natural disasters

Even though scientists do not support beliefs about the oarfish being a sign of bad luck, there have been cases where the sightings were followed by a natural disaster. A doomsday fish washed ashore in Indonesia on August 25. Six days later, six volcanoes erupted one after the other. This included Mount Sinabung, Mount Anak Krakatau, Mount Ibu, Mount Lewotobi Perempuan, Ili Lewotolok and Mount Semeru.

In February, two live oarfish washed ashore on a beach in Mexico's Cabo San Lucas. On March 23, a magnitude 4.1 earthquake was detected only a few kilometres from the place. Multiple hurricanes, such as Polo, Simon and Rachel, slammed the region in September and October.

Doomsday fish in 2025

In 2025, six oarfish were seen in different parts of the world. The first one was in February in Mexico, on the Baja California Sur coast. In May, a 30-foot oarfish was caught in Tamil Nadu. The next sighting was in Australia, off Tasmania’s west coast on June 2. Then two more were seen in New Zealand in June. Another doomsday fish was spotted in India in October 2025.