11-Foot Herring Washes Ashore in Sweden

(May 12) -- For the first time in more than 130 years, a fish known as the "king of herrings" has washed up on the coastline of Sweden.

Living up to its royal nickname, the 11½-foot-long giant herring -- or oarfish, as it is alternately known -- floated ashore Tuesday on the west coast of Sweden.

n this undated photo released by the House of the Sea Aquarium in the city of Lysekila, Sweden, a 12-foot Giant Oarfish found off Sweden's west coast is displayed.

House of the Sea Aquarium / AP

This 11-1/2- foot long giant herring washed ashore in Sweden on Tuesday.

"Down at the water, there was something big floating," Kurt Ove Eriksson, one of the people who found the fish, told Svenska Dagbladet. "At first we thought it was a big piece of plastic. But then we saw an eye. I went down to check and saw that it was this extremely strange fish."

Eriksson and his companions brought the fish to the House of the Sea Aquarium in the nearby town of Lysekil.

"We don't know much about the species," the museum said in a press release, "but believe it lives in deep waters at least 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) deep, and many believe it's at the origin of the sea-serpent myth."

The last sighting of an oarfish in Sweden came in 1879, but a handful of giant herrings have been spotted in other countries as the creatures come to shore and die.

Believed to live the majority of its life on the ocean floor, the oarfish can grow to a length of up to 50 feet, making it the longest fish in the sea.

On YouTube, several videos of oarfish showcase the creature's unique, elongated bodies. With its silvery skin and pink or red dorsal fin that runs the length of the fish, it is no wonder that the creatures elicit so much awe.