The 'Doomsday Fish' has sparked wild theories about the Japanese earthquake

The sighting of a rare 'Doomsday Fish' has led to speculation online after Japan was hit with a huge earthquake on New Year’s Day.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes across the country and the death toll currently stands at 48 after a powerful earthquake triggered tsunami warnings.

The country’s main island of Honshu was badly affected by the 7.6 magnitude quake, which sent one metre-high tsunami waves hitting the western coast.

It’s one of the biggest natural disasters in the country’s history and now people are connecting it with the sighting of the bizarre fish over the summer.

The rare six-foot “earthquake fish”, officially called the Russell's oarfish, is regarded by some as a sign of forthcoming bad news.

Earlier this year, divers spotted an oarfish off the coast of Taiwan. Due to their size and shape, oarfish resemble ‘sea serpents’ and are considered harbingers of earthquakes and misfortune in Japanese mythology.

The myth was rekindled in 2011 after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Shortly before the disaster, at least a dozen of the rarely-seen fish washed ashore in Japan in late 2009 and 2010.

Now, people are looking back at the sighting over the summer and seeing it as an omen.

There’s absolutely no evidence that there’s a link between the fish and natural disasters, and the Ecuadoran Geophysical Institute said the myth has no validity in any scientific study carried out as of August 2022.

However, that’s not stopping people are looking back at the sighting and linking it to the recent earthquake.

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