Creature record / 2017
Wednesday afternoon, 22 February 2017. The sea left something on the beach at Cagdianao, in the Philippines' Dinagat Islands. It was white. It was enormous. It had no visible head and no eyes. And it seemed to be covered in long, shaggy hair. Locals flocked to the shore. Photos raced across Facebook and drew 72,000 shares in a day. Earlier that month a strong earthquake had shaken the region, and an oarfish, a fish locals tie to quakes, had washed up nearby. Residents feared the sea was sending omens. Officials took a tissue sample and kept the bones. Scientists soon had an answer. Its species was never confirmed.
The Surigao del Norte earthquake struck at 22:03 on 10 February 2017. PHIVOLCS rated it magnitude 6.7. The epicentre lay about 16 km offshore, in the Surigao Strait, and Cagdianao felt Intensity V. Earlier that February an oarfish had washed up in Carmen, Agusan del Norte. Local belief holds that oarfish appear before earthquakes. The coast was already on edge.