The oarfish – dubbed a "harbinger of doom" – measured 13 feet (4 metres) in length and was still alive when beachgoers tried to help it back out to sea at Cancas Beach in Punta Sal, Peru

Beachgoers panicked after a huge fish - believed to appear from the sea when an earthquake is looming - washed up on the sand yesterday. The enormous deep-sea oarfish - which measured 13 feet (4 metres) in length - is dubbed a "harbinger of doom" for its links to disasters.