An elusive deep-water oarfish considered to be a harbinger of bad news was discovered on the shores of Encinitas, California last Friday.

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.