'Doomsday fish' pair seen near shore in Mexico, woman shares viral video

A beach visit in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, turned into an extraordinary moment for a woman and her family after they encountered two rare deep-sea oarfish close to the shoreline. The unusual sighting was captured on video and later shared online, drawing attention because the species is rarely seen near the surface.

Monica Pittenger, who filmed the encounter and posted it on Instagram, described her disbelief at what she was witnessing. "I didn't believe my eyes. It was something out of a fiction movie. I have never seen anything like it before. I just remember thinking, 'Is this real?' And honestly, when I saw the second one, I got a little nervous. What's going on? There’s two."

According to Pittenger, the group initially noticed a shimmering shape moving through the water from a distance. As it approached the shore, they realised it was an unfamiliar creature.

At one point, one of the fish appeared to be struggling, prompting Pittenger's sister to act quickly.

"My sister just cannot stand anything in pain. She reacted superfast. She threw me her phone, her drink and her bag and said, 'Hold this,' and dived in," she recalled.

While some people nearby hesitated because they were unsure what the creature was, Pittenger said her sister and a few others helped guide the fish back toward deeper water.

"As soon as she saw that it was dying, she didn't care and started pushing it back in with the people on the side of the beach," she said.

As the group began leaving the area, they noticed another similar fish nearby, adding to the surprise.

"As we were walking back, we saw another one. Then we saw that one trying to get back, and we were like, What's happening? There's two now?"

Eventually, both fish were able to swim away after being nudged back into the water, Pittenger said. The group remained at the beach for some time afterwards, curious to see if the rare visitors might reappear.

"We sat down afterwards and wondered what that was. Then we started reading about it and realised how rare it was," she said, adding: "It was a pretty cool experience but very surreal."

Oarfish- what is the Doomsday fish 

The "doomsday fish" is a nickname for the oarfish, a massive, ribbon-like deep-sea creature that can grow over 30 feet long.

They typically inhabit deep waters at depths of around 3,000 feet, which makes sightings near the surface uncommon. Because of Japanese folklore linking them to natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, they are sometimes referred to as "doomsday fish," although scientists say there is no scientific evidence supporting such beliefs.