SCMP reported that a nearly 4-meter-long paddlefish was found in a fishing net off the port of Imizu, Toyama Prefecture on Monday. The fish died but was later taken to the nearby Uozu Aquarium for study.

Two other paddlefish were also discovered in Toyama Bay nine days earlier.

The paddlefish is known as the “palace messenger of the sea god”, sometimes called the “sea dragon” because of its strange shape. Some people believe that this fish, when it comes ashore, will indicate an impending earthquake.

They say that giant fish usually rise to the surface to escape earthquakes that come from the bottom of the sea.

The fish was brought to the Uozu Aquarium for research.

Ten paddlefish washed up off the north coast of Japan in 2010. Months later, a massive earthquake hit northeast Japan, triggering a tsunami that killed nearly 19,000 people and destroyed a nuclear plant. Fukushima.