Oct 15, 2013 03:11 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

On a standard snorkeling expedition, marine instructor Jasmine Santana made what she called "the discovery of a lifetime" when she came into contact with an 18-foot oarfish.

KTLA reported she had been swimming off the coast of California's Catalina Island when she spotted the fish. It had apparently died of natural causes, so she dragged the oarfish ashore by herself, but it took more than a dozen to lift the creature.

According to a news release from the Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI), for which Santana is an instructor, the diver found the giant snake-like fish in the Toyon Bay, two miles from the Avalon Port and 22 miles from the Los Angeles port.

"It took 15 or 20 of us to pick it up," said Jeff Chace, a program director with CIMI.

Chace and other CIMI staffers were unloading equipment from a previous trip to Santa Barbara Island when they noticed their fellow instructor pulling the near-completely intact fish ashore.

"The craziest thing we saw during our two day-journey at sea happened when we got home," instructor Connor Gallagher said. "These islands never cease to amaze."

Chace said spotting the fish was extremely rare since they are typically deep-sea dwellers, but this one was not even among the biggest an Oarfish can possibly be. The sea serpent is known to grow as long as 50 feet.

"It's one of these rare weird things you see in Southern California," Chace said.

CIMI does not know what to do with the fish, but is in contact with experts at the University of California at Santa Barbara and the Museum of Natural History in L.A.

One of their plans consists of burying the fish under the sand to let it decompose, which would end up giving them an 18-foot long skeleton. Said Chace, "We can't even really fit it into our freezer."

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