A five-metre long oarfish was caught in Taiwan - the same day that two earthquakes struck the region.

Fishermen hauled in the alien-like creature from the depths last Friday morning before selling it to a restaurant.

Legend has it that the creatures - dubbed 'earthquake fish' - make an appearance from the deepest part of the ocean when a natural disaster is imminent.

Astonishingly, two earthquakes struck Taiwan on the same day. There was a magnitude 5.4 quaked 19 miles southeast of Taitung County at 2:36 am and a 5.4 temblor which struck at 9:40 am.

Restaurant owner Chen Kuo-pin said he paid the equivalent of 560 USD for the behemoth, which he said was ''very rare'' because of its length.

Chen said: "It's up to the experts to say whether the fish is actually a messenger of such disaster but it sure is the longest Oarfish I've ever seen. The average length we see is between one and two metres.

"The flesh has a tofu-like texture. It's so tender you can scoop it up with a spoon.''

Two fishermen landed the Oarfish off the coast of Dong'ao in Yilan County, eastern Taiwan in the middle of the night.

They said the creature was still alive when they pulled it onto their boat. However, it was dead by the time they docked in the morning and sold it to the restaurant.

Oarfish are called "earthquake fish" in Taiwan because according to local lore, they surface from the deep just before a major earthquake.

There is a similar belief in neighbouring Japan, where folklore suggests that oarfish are messengers from the mystical palace of the sea god. They can herald either a great catch or a disaster, they believe.

In recent years, the long, serpent-like silver oarfish have signalled imminent major earthquakes when they have emerged from the depths.

Around a dozen of the rarely-seen fish were found washed ashore in Japan in late 2009 and 2010 shortly before the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011 killed more than 19,000 people and caused meltdowns at three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Diaiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

While in July this year, a 13ft long oarfish was found washed ashore off the coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico, just days before an earthquake struck the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Found in all temperate to tropical oceans yet rarely seen, the oarfish is the world's longest bony fish.

This elusive deep-sea creature usually inhabits depths of around 3,000 feet, but it has also been spotted swimming near the surface with its head sticking out of the water.