A group of tourists captured the moment when the fish approached the shoreline

Apr 8, 2014 15:11 GMT  ·  By

Two giant oarfish were seen swimming near the shoreline in Mexico, although this species of fish doesn’t usually come close to the beach and is seldom seen by humans.

Oarfish are known to be the world's largest bony fish. They have an incredibly long, undulating body and grow up to 56 feet (17 meters). They like depths of around 650 feet (200 meters) and as far down as 3,000 feet (914 meters), so spotting them so close to the coast is pretty uncommon.

But, during a recent Shedd Adventures trip to Baja, the group of participants encountered two beautiful oarfish swimming in the crystal clear waters of the Sea of Cortés, off the coast of Mexico.

The incredible moment was caught on camera by the shocked tourists and uploaded to YouTube. You can watch the footage below.

Both oarfish in the video are around 15 feet (4.5 meters) long. Although they are not the largest specimens to be seen, the footage is impressive because very few living oarfish were actually caught on camera, given that they live in deep waters where there is little light.

Due to their bizarre form and the fact that they are rarely seen by humans, oarfish are believed to have been behind many seafaring tales of mythical sea monsters.