This is the moment fishermen reel in a monstrous 16-foot oarfish at a port in Chile sparking fears of an earthquake.

Footage shows the locals hoisting the eel-like creature up to the surface in the port city of Arica on July 11. The silvery fish hung limp from the fishing cable as residents crowded to gawk at the rare sighting.

Onlooker Ruben Luis Gonzalez Sanchez said: 'It was scary. When the fishermen pulled it up, I feel that it is a bad omen for my city.'

There is a popular belief that oarfish portend natural disasters, as they are said to appear before tsunamis or earthquakes. The connection has not been scientifically proven.

Oarfish live in temperate to tropical regions, typically living between 200 to 1,000 metres below the ocean's surface.

Because they thrive in great depths, few of them can survive being pulled to shallow waters where currents are more turbulent.