Encinitas (USA) - Anyone suffering from ichthyophobia - i.e. a heightened disgust and fear of fish - had better click away now. A real "monster" from the deep sea has washed up on a Californian beach - an oarfish more than three meters long.

What a rare and almost mystical sight!

Normally, these bony fish are at home in the depths of the oceans. Sightings are almost unheard of, although the animals live in almost all tropical and temperate oceans.

Last week, however, a dead specimen washed ashore near the town of Encinitas on the southern Californian coast. Alison Laferriere, a doctoral student at theScripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, discovered the strange fish on Grandview Beach, as the institute announced this week.

The "cool creature" is said to be three meters long. Quite remarkable, but oarfish can even reach a length of eight meters, making them the longest bony fish.

They are also popularly known as "doomsday fish", as they are said to be able to predict natural disasters and earthquakes. Seafaring reports from ancient times, which tell of monstrous sea serpents, can be traced back to the fish, which are up to 170 vertebrae long.

Oarfish are still not particularly well researched due to their deep-sea habitat - they live up to one kilometer below the sea surface. According to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, only 20 specimens have been washed up on the Californian coast in more than 120 years.

And yet this year is not the first time that such a creature has "haunted" the south-western US state. It was only in August that snorkelers discovered a dead oarfish in La Jolla Cove!

The specimen was 3.73 meters long. It was also examined by the Scripps Institute.