Residents were terrified when a dead oarfish washed up on the coast of a Thai island.

The elusive sea creature - believed by superstitious locals to be a harbinger of earthquakes - was caught by a trawler off Phuket on February 15 morning.

However, the deep-sea fish could not withstand surface conditions and died just hours later.

Fishermen stored the dead oarfish in ice to preserve it before staff from the Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office arrived on February 16 for an inspection.

The oarfish was found to be around 10ft long and had no missing parts. It has been transported to the National Science Museum to be studied.

The discovery was reported to be the first recorded beaching of an oarfish in Phuket.

Oarfish had previously been found in other parts of Thailand.

On January 3, another of the eel-like sea creatures was found by an angler off Satun island. That oarfish was sent to a research centre in Bangkok for further study.

While on February 14, a 12ft-long oarfish was found with severe injuries on a beach in Leyte province in the Philippines. It later died and was buried by villagers.

Oarfish are deep-sea creatures belonging to the Regalecidae family. They are characterised by an elongated, ribbon-like body, and highly reflective scales.

Oarfish live in deep waters in temperate to tropical regions. Because they thrive in great depths, few of them can survive being pulled to shallow waters where currents are more turbulent.

Oarfish sightings have been linked to earthquakes, though the belief has no scientific basis.