Five deep-sea fish were caught in waters off Busan earlier this week, but local experts expressed doubt that the unusual catch was linked to recent earthquakes in nearby Japan.
A fishing boat in Busan caught five striped jewfish in a single day, according to Yonhap News Agency. The largest was 165 centimeters long and weighed 90 kilograms, nearly 20 kilograms heavier than the average adult Korean man.
The striped jewfish is one of the rarest marine species found in Korean waters, with only about 30 caught annually, according to the report. The fish typically live at depths of 400 to 500 meters and usually come closer to the surface only during the breeding season from May to July.
Local folklore says the fish “can only be caught with the sea god’s blessing,” making such a large catch especially unusual. Some Koreans have speculated that the phenomenon may reflect changes in the marine ecosystem, possibly triggered by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake off the coast of Japan on Monday.
But experts say such speculation has no scientific basis.
Officials at the National Institute of Fisheries Science said beliefs about “doomsday fish” — the idea that sightings of deep-sea fish are precursors to major earthquakes — have not been scientifically proven.
They said it is possible that factors such as climate change may have affected the life cycles of certain deep-sea species.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
