WATCH: Rare MONSTER fish which only surfaces after earthquakes caught by stunned man
A MAN has caught two rare MONSTER fish that only surface after earthquakes.
Fisherman Lee Chung-cheng left locals stunned when he pulled two giant oarfish from the water.
While the massive sea creatures are not rare in the depths, it is extremely uncommon for them to be seen by humans near the surface, except after earthquakes.
Both of Mr Lee’s captures are 4.4 metres long and weigh 44kg.
The fish are so unusual and rare that they are thought to have inspired legends about sea serpents.
It is the first time that Mr Lee, from Taiwan's small coastal fishing town Taimali, or any of his peers have caught this fish, so everyone who witnessed them were unsurprisingly stunned.
He said: "I've been fishing for almost 30 years and this is a first for me - and somehow I managed to get two at once.
"Locals have captured all sorts of things, even whale sharks, but never something like this.”
The locals have nicknamed the giant oarfish 'earthquake fish' because they only come to the surface after seismic activity.
Taiwan’s meteorological centre recorded tremors on the ocean floor around Taiwan which measured five on the Richter scale.
It comes after a spate of seismic activity around the globe over the last month.
Tremors were felt in south-east Asia, before moving slightly north to Japan where 48 people lost their lives.
However, it was Ecuador that suffered the most after a huge earthquake hit the Latin American country, resulting in 500 deaths.
Fears are mounting that a massive earthquake is on the horizon, and Japan has issued a book warning its citizens about potential devastation.
