An 18-foot-long oarfish was found off the Southern California coast this weekend.

While snorkeling, a marine science instructor, Jasmine Santana, spotted the carcass of the 18-foot-long oarfish. The creature looks like a giant silver sea serpent---and its size is a thing of legend.

Santana spotted something shimmering in the depths 30 feet deep while snorkeling during a staff trip in Toyon Bay at Santa Catalina Island, which sits roughly two dozen miles from the mainland.

"She said, 'I have to drag this thing out of here or nobody will believe me,"' Mark Waddington, of the Catalinia Island Marine Institute, said.

After she dragged the carcass by the tail for more than 75 feet, staffers waded in and helped her bring it to shore. Santana needed the help of more than 15 people to drag the creature to shore. The Catalina Island Marine Institute, where Santana works, is calling her find the discovery of a lifetime.

"We've never seen a fish this big," said Waddington."The last oarfish we saw was three feet long."

The "leviathan" oarfish may be the source of legends about the Loch Ness Monster and other sea serpents.

The oarfish can dive more than 3,000 feet deep, and thus, sightings are rare. The oarfish most likely died of natural causes, but tissue samples and video footage were sent to the University of California, Santa Barbara be studied by biologists.

The carcass was put on display Tuesday for students studying at CIMI. There isn't a way to preserve it because it's so big. Instead, the oarfish carcass will be buried in the sand until it decomposes and then its skeleton will be reconstituted for display, Waddington said.

The oarfish, which can grow to more than 50 feet, is a deep-water pelagic fish -- the longest bony fish in the world, according to CIMI.

What do you think of this? Watch a video about it below!