A tsunami can move as fast as 500 miles per hour, or 800 kilometers per hour, and can have a devastating effect on everything in its path. A powerful earthquake triggered the 2011 tsunami off the Japanese coast, which caused the death of 18,000 people, and the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean absolutely devastated the region, causing over 220,000 deaths and billions of dollars in property damage. The immense power of a tsunami draws up debris and creatures from the deep sea that typically don’t see the light of day. Here follows a list of 12 mysterious creatures — and items — that have washed up after a tsunami.
Number 12: Rowboat
Although it may not seem a big deal to find a rowboat washed ashore after a powerful wave, the rowboat that turned up on a beach in Washington State in 2013 had traveled a long way. It was discovered to be a Japanese boat that had ripped its moorings in the 2011 tsunami and washed out to sea. The boat remarkably drifted for two years in the Pacific Ocean before landing on the beach in Washington. Unsurprisingly, the boat was covered in barnacles and seaweed, and one of the compartments was filled with water. An amazing discovery was made in the water-filled compartment in the form of five striped blackfish. The fish were still very young and measured only 5 inches, or 13 centimeters, long. The theory is that the fish had been swept into the compartment as larvae and been surviving inside ever since.
Number 11: Giant eyeball
This one’s pretty gross: a beachcomber discovered a softball-sized blue eyeball on the sand in Pompano Beach, Florida in 2012. There was a lot of initial speculation as to what creature this eyeball belonged to, with state wildlife officials in Florida baffled by the giant blue orb. The most likely candidates included tuna, sharks, swordfish, whales and giant squid. However, experts analyzed the eye based on its color, size and structure, along with the presence of bone around the eye, and believe the orb was cut from a swordfish and tossed overboard by a fisherman.
Number 10: Debris
As you may imagine, a giant, churning tsunami draws up a lot of debris. After the 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan, lots of debris circulated in the water column and made its way into the deeper waters. Subsequently, lots of marine life attached to the debris, with nearly 300 different species of fish, mussels, crabs, and various other sea creatures making their way to the United States from Japan. Much of the debris was made up of non-biodegradable plastic that floated 6,900 kilometers, or 4,300 miles, with the sea creatures attached. Tsunami debris has now made it possible for marine life to migrate around the world and is a new ecological process in itself. There is a danger, however, that the influx of new species could negatively affect the native populations.
Number 9: Faceless fish
The last time this fish was seen and recorded was 1873. This very rare and unusual fish was hauled up from waters 1,300 feet, or 400 meters, deep off Australia during a scientific voyage studying parts of the ocean never explored before. This strange species of fish appeared to have no face, but a closer inspection revealed tiny eyes on the underside of its head, near its mouth, and buried deep beneath the skin. Scientists think it has very poor eyesight and relies more on sensory organs to navigate the deepest parts of the ocean. The fish has actually been identified as a type of cusp eel, which lives in deep waters around Indonesia, Japan, Hawaii and the Arabian Sea.
Number 8: The Blob
Following the tsunami in Japan a mysterious creature, soon dubbed “the blob,” washed up on the shore of Indonesia. The sheer size of the creature — 20 feet, or 6 meters, long — caused the locals to scratch their heads as to the nature of the decaying sea monster. The identification was also made more difficult by the unexplained layer of fur covering the massive beast. These massive blobs washing up on shore have occurred in other parts of the world and experts think they are just the decomposing bodies of large whales. Try telling this to the superstitious locals!
Number 7: Two-headed porpoise
Fishermen off the coast of the Netherlands were quite surprised to find a two-headed porpoise captured in their nets. This extremely rare sighting is only the tenth known case of conjoined twins in cetaceans, a group of animals that also includes whales and dolphins. The fishermen who made the discovery returned the twins, who were probably deceased, back into the ocean, much to the dismay of marine biologists who would have liked to have had a chance to study this rare marine phenomena.
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