Massive 4-metre oarfish washes up dead on Californian island

THE remains of a mysterious serpent-like oarfish that once lived at the bottom of the ocean have washed up on a popular island.

CREDIT: Picture Media Online use only Conservation operations coordinator Amy Catalano of the Catalina Conservancy poses near an oarfish that washed up dead on the beach of Catalina Island, California, in this handout photo released to Reuters on June 4, 2015. Catalano said she and a co-worker at the Catalina Island Conservancy were conducting a bird survey on Monday and standing on a bluff when they spotted the long body of the creature on the island's shore below. REUTERS/TylerDvorak/Catalina Island Conservancy/Handout via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. NO ARCHIVES. NO SALES. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

THE remains of a mysterious serpent-like creature that once lived at the bottom of the ocean have washed up on a popular island.

National Geographic reports that Tyler Dvorak from the Catalina Island Conservancy stumbled across the fish while scanning a beach with binoculars.

“I knew what it was immediately because of the one that washed up last year,” the biologist said.

“It was a pretty weird thing to see.”

Dvorak contacted researchers in Los Angeles who were able to travel to the island and take samples of the 4.3-metre beast.

A top university biologist and her students will now study the dead oarfish.

Oarfish are large, greatly elongated, fish belonging to the small family Regalecidae.

They have been known to grow up to 11 metres, but are rarely seen.