Two fishermen were out fishing for cockles when they came across a sunfish on a deserted beach.
South Australian Museum fish collection manager Ralph Foster said this specimen, which was already dead, was a little on the small side, measuring an estimate of 1.8 meters (approx. 5.9 feet) in length.
According to Foster, the sunfish received its name for its characteristic basking in the sun. Apparently, they can also swim to the depth of the ocean.
“In recent work people have been putting satellite tags and data loggers on them and found they will come to the surface and lay on their side on the surface, hence the name the sunfish,” he further added.The oceanic sunfish is the world’s largest bony fish and can often be confused with a shark due to its fin.
Foster admits that currently, they know only very little about these species; however, over the last few years, technology has made it possible to learn more about these species.
“We get to actually look at them so infrequently, so we never know quite which one we’ve got,” he said. “Which is why these photographs online are so useful, because we get to actually look at it and decide which one it is.”
Often weighing in at more than the average car weight, the largest sunfish caught weighed 5,000 pounds (approx. 2,268 kg). The sunfish are found in tropical and temperate oceans around the world and are usually seen basking in the sun.
These majestic creatures are known to sink yachts. “We get a lot of them hit by boats and some of them are so large they actually sink yachts,” said Foster.
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