LOS ANGELES - Two strange-looking fish washed up on Southern California beaches last week. The snakelike creatures are called oarfish. Their huge size has inspired legends about sea serpents. Scientists are excited to have the chance to study them.

The oarfish remain mostly mysterious to researchers. They live deep down in the sea and have been seen underwater only a few times. What little scientists do know has come from the few dead ones that have washed ashore.

"If all you knew about deer was roadkill ... how much would you actually know about deer?" said Milton Love, a marine biologist. "That's kind of where we are with oarfish."

The 18-foot giant found on Oct. 13 was among the largest oarfish reported in nearly 20 years. A 14-foot fish beached on Friday. That one was cut open and examined by scientists on Monday.

A Harmless Sea Monster

Love said he believes that the deaths of the two fish are probably linked. Most likely, an ocean current carried the creature from calm waters into a rough area near the shore. Oarfish are weak swimmers who aren't adapted to surviving in rough water.

The oarfish looks threatening, but it is actually harmless. The silver, snakelike fish has no teeth. It is heavy, with weak, flabby muscles. It glows slightly underwater. A ribbon-like fin along its back waves as it sucks down plankton and jellyfish, said Russ Vetter, a biologist. Vetter was one of the biologists who examined the 14-foot fish as it was cut open.

Samples of the fish will be divided and sent to laboratories around the world. Scientists will examine them to look for clues about the creature and its habitat. They will study its eyes, gills, heart and liver. Its ear bones will allow the scientists to figure out how old it was.

But, results from the research could take years to complete, scientists said.

Staff members at the Catalina Island Marine Institute considered burying their 18-foot oarfish body, which was too large to refrigerate. But experts at the Natural History Museum said the bones are too delicate. They would be crushed by the weight of the sand, said Jeff Chace of the Marine Institute. The fish was divided among different laboratories because there was so much interest, he said.

"Gets Kids Excited About Science"

The institute hopes to keep the skeleton on display, he said. It would be shown to 40,000 children who visit the institute each year.

"One of the neat things for kids is the unknown factor," he said. "These discoveries are happening all the time, and it gets kids excited about science."

Cellphones and the Internet are leading to new discoveries in ocean life. With more people snapping cellphone photos and posting videos of "strange fish and fish doing strange things," scientists can find out about these rare events, said Philip Hastings. He works for the University of California, taking care of a collection of marine specimens.

"Everyone has a cellphone with a camera on it," Hastings said. "Social media allows us to distribute those, and get information back to scientists.

Many theories have been offered as to why the huge fish died. One claim is that an oarfish dying is a sign of a coming earthquake.

Experts, however, stressed that they have not pinpointed a cause of death yet.

"With a rare event like this, it is a bit troubling, but it's a total mystery," Vetter said.