PHOTOS: 17-foot oarfish found floating off Catalina Island

A 17-foot dead oarfish was found floating in the waters off of Santa Catalina Island's Sandy Beach on Monday.

Island Harbor Patrol found the rarely seen sea serpent. Seagulls apparently had started making a meal of the fish. It's not known how the fish died.

Sightings are rare, and not much is known about the behavior of the oarfish.

It will be donated for scientific research.