The enormous, serpentine fish, regarded in Japanese folklore as a herald of disaster, usually live deep below the surface and are only sighted when sick or dying

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It was a beautiful warm day in north-west Tasmania when a fish with a reputation as a harbinger of doom washed ashore.

Tony Cheesman, who lives in the seaside town of Penguin, was walking his two dogs, Ronan and Custard, along the beach at Preservation Bay on Friday morning when something silvery and surrounded by gulls grabbed his attention.