Interesting Images
A group of Aussies spotted this behemoth on the beach and initially thought it was a rugged piece of driftwood. Upon closer inspection, however, they realized it was the body of an enormous, bony fish. It was later identified as an ocean sunfish, known to scientists as the Mola mola. These fish can grow up to 11 feet (3.3 meters) long and weigh up to 2.5 tons (2.2 metric tons).
Interesting Images
Sunfish in California
Researchers were surprised when they found a dead hoodwinker sunfish on Sands Beach in Santa Barbara County on Feb. 19, so far away from the fish’s native swimming grounds in southeastern Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and perhaps Chile, the first time a sunfish has been found in the northern hemisphere. Because the sunfish is so rarely found, it took researchers a few days to identify the creature.
New Species Of Sunfish
A new species of sunfish has been discovered for the first time in 130 years after washing up on a New Zealand beach. The two-tonne creature has been named Hoodwinker sunfish (Mola tecta) because of its elusiveness.
Iconic ocean sunfishes are the heaviest and most distinctive of all bony fishes, with some species weighing in excess of two tonnes and growing to three metres in length. The newly discovered species, named the Hoodwinker Sunfish, is thought to approach a similar size, researchers said. Marianne Nyegaard from Murdoch University in Australia uncovered the new species while researching the population genetics of ocean sunfish in the Indo-pacific region.
Earth Report 