Last week, a fish known as the “doomsday fish” was found on a beach in Encinitas, due to its reputation as a predictor of natural disasters such as earthquakes. Legend has it that the fish appears before a misfortune strikes. This hypothesis gained traction in 2011, when 20 appeared off the coast of Japan in the months leading up to the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the country. In California, this was the second sighting this year. Ben Frable, a researcher at the Scripps Institution, said in a statement in August after the first was found that changing ocean conditions, coupled with a potential increase in oarfish populations, could be behind the increase in sightings.