Fanged Fish From The 'Twilight Zone' Keep Washing Ashore In Oregon; Authorities Unsure Why [Photo]

Fanged, silver fish from the "twilight zone" have been washing ashore in Oregon in the past few weeks, and authorities aren't exactly sure why.

Oregon State Parks posted about the recent sightings of the fanged fish on Oregon beaches Monday. They are lancetfish — the "unusual" creatures that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries said were from the ocean's "Twilight Zone."

In the Facebook post, Oregon State Parks shared a photo of one of the lancetfish that had washed ashore. The creature was still alive and was helped back to the water, where it was able to swim back.

"Several lancetfish have washed ashore on Oregon's beaches the last few weeks from Nehalem south to Bandon," the park authorities noted. "These deep-sea fish live in tropical and subtropical waters and can migrate as far north as the Bering Sea to feed. No one is sure why they are washing ashore."

Only recently, towards the end of April, a beach-goer also caught a glimpse of a lancetfish that had washed ashore.

"Have never seen ANYTHING like this before!" said Miranda Maurine, who also shared a photo of the rather intimidating fish. "From far away I thought it was a shiny rock."

Oregon State Parks has requested anyone who spots a lancetfish to post a photo of it on social media and tag them, as well as the NOAA Fisheries West Coast.

Spotting a lancetfish on the shore may be surprising for any beach-goer. Lancetfish are strange-looking fish, with their smooth, shiny silver bodies that can grow to over seven feet long — they rank among the largest deep-sea fish. The most striking (or scary) features of lancetfish may arguably be their large fangs and haunting, massive eyes.

Lancetfish are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female sex parts, and they're also quite vicious as they are known to engage in cannibalism.

The dinosaur-sounding name of their scientific genus, Alepisaurus, means "scaleless lizards," which does seem appropriate given the length and smoothness of their shiny, scaleless bodies.

Lancetfish usually hunt in mid-water depths, also known as the mesopelagic or "twilight zone," according to the NOAA Fisheries. The creatures that reside at these depths of between 200 to 1,000 meters include dragonfishes, sabretooth fishes and ones that possess bioluminescence to either attract prey or spook predators away.