Tag: Mark Healey

Watch: Massive ‘alien’ fish gets helping hand from boat crew

Renowned big-wave surfer and freediver Mark Healey has shared video showing him using a brush to remove parasites from a Mola mola, or ocean sunfish.

Renowned big-wave surfer and freediver Mark Healey has shared video showing him using a brush to remove parasites from a Mola mola, or ocean sunfish.

“It kept coming back for more and could’ve probably done it all day,” Healey said via Instagram. “Those parasites are pretty buried in there, but I think I made a little headway with the boat brush.”

In the footage, under the title, “Healey’s Thai Massage,” one of the crew describes the ghostly white, oddly shaped sunfish as “an alien.”

Ocean sunfish are the world’s heaviest bony fish and can weigh up to 5,000 pounds. Their massive bodies are flat and their tail sections are truncated. The gentle giants roam tropical and temperate oceans preying on items such as jellies, squid, and algae.

RELATED: Rare whale shark photographed by pilot off Southern California

Healey stated that surfacing molas will sometimes turn on their sides to allow gulls to remove their parasites.

Among the Instagram comments was this from fellow wave rider Michael Stewart: “It’s a cool moment when human and non-human earthlings connect.”

[listicle id=1956609]

Surfer Mark Healey fends off shark while freediving

The accompanying video clip shows a large shark approaching Mark Healey, who ends the encounter with a firm jab to the shark’s snout.

Mark Healey makes a living as a big-wave surfer who spends most of the year chasing enormous swells around the world. But when the athlete isn’t riding waves, he often seeks solitude and adventure beneath the surface, freediving with a speargun, hunting fish for the dinner table.

View this post on Instagram

I’ve found that it’s worthwhile to make every effort (within reason) to not let sharks take a fish you’ve speared. They’re fast learners and when they are rewarded for a behavior they usually double down on it. That’s why they’ve been around for eons. Sometimes it’s unavoidable and the sharks beat you to your fish. This video is an example of how they act after being “rewarded”. I lost a fish to about five sharks earlier in the dive. Once that happens they have way less hesitation and they’ll shadow you all day. Even follow the boat if you switch spots sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t feel in danger at all here, but if I ended up shooting that Wahoo, you know this shark would have been all over it. Another good reason to avoid having the sharks take your fish (besides losing your food) is that you don’t want them to associate divers with food. It might not be a problem for you that day, but it may end up being a problem for the unwitting diver that that wild animal encounters next time.

A post shared by Mark Healey (@healeywaterops) on

This sometimes puts Healey in close proximity to sharks looking for an easy meal.

The accompanying video clip, posted to Instagram on Sunday, shows a large Galapagos shark approaching Healey, who ends the encounter with a firm jab to the shark’s snout with his spear tip.

RELATED: Can you spot the hidden object in this great white shark photo?

“I’ve found that it’s worthwhile to make every effort (within reason) to not let sharks take a fish you’ve speared,” Healey wrote. “They’re fast learners and when they are rewarded for a behavior they usually double down on it.

“Sometimes it’s unavoidable and the sharks beat you to your fish. This video is an example of how they act after being ‘rewarded.’

Healey told For The Win Outdoors that he was diving off French Polynesia when the encounter occurred. He had recently lost a fish to several sharks that had been close by, and Healey had been eyeing a wahoo (also seen in the video clip) when the Galapagos shark approached.

“There’s no shortage of sharks down there,” Healey said. “This shark was shadowing me to see if it could get another easy meal. It doesn’t have an aggressive posture towards me, but they don’t mind a bit of physical contact once they’re fired up.

“It had a competitive feeding situation when it vied with other sharks earlier in the day to eat my fish. It’s kind of like throwing a French fry to seagulls. Once they’ve seen it they’re not afraid to get close to you because they’re more concerned about beating the other seagulls to the next possible French fry.”

Healey, 38, who lives in Hawaii, said encounters like this are not uncommon in locations where sharks are plentiful, and he generally tries to exit the water as quickly as possible after securing his catch.

“You just have to read the scenario,” he said.