Nearly eight years after the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and tsunami, another disaster threatens to strike. The warnings appeared when there were numerous sightings of the legendary sea creature, the oarfish. Oarfish can grow to be 50 ft long and weigh 600 pounds. Seeing one up close is typically rare as they live 1 mile below the ocean’s surface.

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Usually, when an oarfish does show up, it is believed to be a sign that a tsunami is coming. There are Japanese legends that the oarfish, or “Ryugu no tsukai,” is believed to be an omen sent from the gods of the sea. “Ryugu no tsukai” literally translates to “Messenger from the Sea God’s Palace.” Scientists, however, disagree with this Japanese folktale.

“There is no scientific evidence at all for the theory that oarfish appear around big quakes. But we cannot 100% deny the possibility,” Uozu Aquarium keeper Kazusa Saiba stated in a comment for CNN. Saiba’s theory does have some evidence to back it up. Before the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake, 20 oarfish were spotted ashore. They were dead, of course, due to them not being able to survive above the surface of the water. Their beached carcasses lying on the shore could be interpreted as a warning of what could happen if a human does not escape the tsunami in time.

“Deep-sea fish living near the sea bottom are more sensitive to the movements of active faults than those near the surface of the sea,” according to Kiyoshi Wadatsumi, who specializes in ecological seismology, in a comment to the Japan Times. It could also be debated that global warming has an effect on the mysterious sea creature.

One must consider that perhaps we are the cause of our own human destruction.