It was! There is actual potential if it turned out to have a basis, and to be fair it's likely worth the time to do a study on any widespread myth/old wives tale like that because you never know if there might be something to it, and if there's not well at least now you have proof.

I'd presume in the folklore it means seeing deep sea fish swimming around the surface, meaning something is happening below (undersea earthquake, eruption, pressure changes etc.). Them washing up dead make me think already sick or dying. Who knows, deep sea creatures might as well be aliens, the environment they live in is actually so weird when you think about it.

But it's definitely Cthulhu this time though.

My worry was that it's some military sub messing around in their habitat.