Rare 17-Foot Deep Sea Creature Washes Ashore in California (Video)

A 17-foot oarfish washed up on a California beach Monday. The creature usually lives at depths of 700 to 3,000 feet and is rarely seen.
Epoch Video
6/3/2015
Updated:
6/3/2015

A 17-foot oarfish washed up on the beach of Catalina Island, California -- and it was no small task to move him. It took 16 people to move a dead oarfish from the shores.

It’s a rare sighting: They usually live at depths of 700 to 3,000 feet. Oarfish are capable of growing up to 50 feet long.

The last sighting of an oarfish in the area was in 2013 when two of them washed up less than a week apart -- one near Catalina and the other in Oceanside. What caused the oarfish to wash up is unknown.