'Doomsday fish': Once-in-a-lifetime sea creature encountered in Monterey Bay(www.sfgate.com)
61 pointsby sipofwater5 days ago7 comments
  • bschwindHN5 days ago
    > Other members of the group were quick to point out that sightings of ribbon fish in shallow water have historically been an omen of earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan, with one person even calling it a “doomsday fish.” But as it turns out, that legend concerns a very similar-looking cousin of the king-of-the-salmon: the oarfish.

    So, not a doomsday fish. Still cool though.

    • jasonjmcghee3 days ago
      I was about to post the same comment- so just blatant click-bait misinformation by sf gate...
  • spaceman_20203 days ago
    So this awful website hijacked my back button, directed me to an ad, and instead of telling me the name of the fish immediately, made me search for it deep in the article

    Yeah, no wonder the web is dying

    • cwnyth3 days ago
      Firefox + ublock origin. Nothing was hijacked, I saw no ads, and I found the name in the 3rd paragraph. You can improve your web experience immensely.
      • 2Gkashmiri3 days ago
        I find this funny.

        On tv, back in the day, we used to have mandatory ads. They were part of programmming..

        On web, people."feel" its the same thing. "Oh let the poor owners earn a bit" because of sob stories of content creators and "only source of income".

        They dont see ublock as something important

      • spaceman_20202 days ago
        Safari on iPhone

        There are mobile users in the world too you know

        • shawn_w2 days ago
          Mobile user running Firefox + uBlock Origin here. Works great. Probably not on iPhones though...
        • ycombinete2 days ago
          uBlock works on Safari on iPhone too.

          I didn’t get ads or redirects.

          https://apps.apple.com/ae/app/ublock-origin-lite/id674534269...

          • wooger2 days ago
            The lite makes a lot of difference, it's only using the iOS content blocker and it doesn't work effectively in many use cases.
            • ycombinete2 days ago
              I haven’t found that to be the case at all. I replaced adguard with uBlock lite months ago and haven’t noticed any problems since.
    • peterspath3 days ago
      I do not know what your setup is. But here on my machine I did not encounter this behaviour.

      Safari 26 on macOS 26, Lockdown Enabled (limits javascript to make your system more secure)[1], and 1Blocker (to block ads and trackers)[2].

      1. https://support.apple.com/en-us/105120

      2. https://1blocker.com

      • spaceman_20202 days ago
        My setup is Safari on iPhone. Aka the majority of users

        Leave it to HN to blame users for “not having the perfect ad blocking setup” instead of calling out trashy click baity websites for bad practices

        • peterspath2 days ago
          It was not to blame, more to tell that there is a solution. Yes it is too bad those website exist. I agree with that completely. But it is not something that will stop until the root evil is destroyed, ads.
    • stevenwoo2 days ago
      Hearst papers (sfgate.com and chron.com) are really bad about this on mobile - the advertising providers just go all out to take over your screen and it takes so long to load that the place you click is not the thing you want if you click too soon. The only plus is all the articles are free to read still.
      • spaceman_20202 days ago
        This really isn’t an “article”. Its not content. Its a click bait summary of another piece of content shared by someone on an entirely different platform

        That this content is “free” isn’t something we should be thankful for

      • the_real_cher2 days ago
        Free slop!
    • scubazealous2 days ago
      This and the clickbait headlines are why I refuse to click on sfgate links now.
    • IAmBroom2 days ago
      Chrome laptop browser on Windows, and the site disabled Ctrl+W to close the window.

      Fuck that.

  • derektank3 days ago
    Once in a lifetime might be overstating it. A handful appeared near San Diego in 2024[1], and several were observed in New Zealand and the Canary Islands last year. Wonder if this is a case of surveillance bias as a result of easier communication or an actual increase in appearances

    [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/15/oarfish-cali...

    • NewJazz3 days ago
      That's not the same fish as the one in this article I don't think.
    • fnordpiglet2 days ago
      The figure of speech is about a typical divers lifetime. I believe you’re confusing it with “once a generation,” which refers to the collective human experience type of rarity.
      • derektank2 days ago
        I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard that phrase in that context. My only real frame of reference is the 1981 Talking Heads hit single which I always took to have the “once in a generation” meaning. What’s a diver’s lifetime?
  • sandworm1013 days ago
    No mention of where the name comes from? It comes from the legends of Pacific-Northwest native peoples. Not Japan. Washington and British Columbia.
  • leobg2 days ago
    > Don't let Google decide who you trust. > Make SFGATE a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.

    Lol

  • HelloUsername2 days ago
    "I caught an oarfish! I hope I catch morefish!"