Tag: ocean sunfish

Watch: Researcher wades out to greet rare, alien-like sunfish

A whale researcher in British Columbia, Canada, last week experienced an extraordinary encounter with a rare and enormous sunfish that appeared outside his home.

A whale researcher in British Columbia, Canada, last week experienced a “once-in-a-lifetime” encounter with a rare and enormous sunfish that he spotted from his home.

Jared Towers, who lives on Cormorant Island, waded into the water with what was later identified as a hoodwinker sunfish swimming just yards from shore.

“I can’t believe this just happened!” Towers wrote Oct. 25 on Facebook. “I’ve seen many sunfish (Mola) offshore over the years but never so close to home or this close up. Also, it turns out this is a Hoodwinker Sunfish (Mola tecta), a species only recently discovered.”

The hoodwinker sunfish was first identified as a species in 2017. They were subsequently believed to inhabit only subtropical and temperate waters in the Southern Hemisphere.

In 2019, however, a hoodwinker sunfish washed ashore near Santa Barbara, marking the first documentation of the species in the Northern Hemisphere.

RELATED: ‘Stunned’ researchers rescue 4,000-pound sunfish from net 

Towers told the Times Colonist that after spotting the sunfish he waded out to spend several “surreal” minutes with a gentle giant that weighed perhaps 400 pounds, measuring 7 feet wide and 10 feet across.

“It had these big beautiful eyes and it was looking me over up and down,” Towers said. “I’m used to having large mammals watching and having this inquisitiveness, but I never expected this out of a fish processing information about me.”

The most prevalent sunfish in the Northern Hemisphere is the Mola mola, which can weigh more than 5,000 pounds.

Alien-like in appearance, with truncated bodies, small mouths and large eyes, ocean sunfish are docile creatures that prey on sea jellies, squid, and other gelatinous zooplankton.

The sunfish encountered by Towers – it eventually swam away – was identified as a hoodwinker sunfish by Jackie Hindering of the Marine Education and Research Society in Port McNeill on Vancouver Island.

She told the Times Colonist that warming waters might in the Pacific be responsible for more sunfish appearing off British Columbia.

Hoodwinker sunfish might easily be misidentified as Mola molas. But they boast subtly different features, including a rounder head shape and smaller tail size.

‘Stunned’ researchers rescue 4,000-pound sunfish from net

A sunfish estimated to weigh more than 4,000 pounds – it was too heavy for the scale – has been rescued from a fishing net off the Spanish enclave of Cueta. The colossal sunfish, believed to be of record size for the region, was pulled from the …

A sunfish estimated to weigh more than 4,000 pounds – it was too heavy for the scale – has been rescued from a fishing net off the Spanish enclave of Cueta.

The colossal sunfish, believed to be of record size for the region, was pulled from the water with cranes and briefly studied before it was set free (see video below).

According to the Estrecho Marine Biology Station of the University of Seville, the entangled sunfish was discovered off Cueta, on the north coast of Africa, on Oct. 4.

 

“We tried to put it on the 1,000-kg (2,204.6-pound) scale but it was too heavy. It would’ve broken it,” the station’s Enrique Ostale told Reuters. “Based off its corpulence and compared with other catches, it must’ve weighed around 2 tonnes (4,409 pounds).”

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Mystery surrounds rare crocodile discovery on Baja California beach

Two cranes on different vessels were used to hoist the sunfish, according to the university. The fish measured 10.5 feet and was nearly as wide between its fins. (Sunfish have truncated bodies, giving them an unusual appearance.)

https://www.facebook.com/UniversidaddeSevillaoficial/posts/10159817041426383

DNA samples were collected but the fish is believed to be a Mola alexandrine, or southern sunfish. They’re closely related to the more widespread Mola mola. Both species are docile and prey mostly on sea jellies.

“I was stunned,” Ostale told Reuters. “We’d read about such individuals, but never thought we’d actually touch one that day.

“But it was also stressful: you’re on a boat in the middle of the water, there’s a crane moving huge weight, a live animal. We couldn’t waste a moment and had to avoid accidents.”

Cueta is one of nine Spanish territories in Africa. It borders Morocco along the boundary of the Mediterranean and Atlantic.

–Images courtesy of the Estrecho Marine Biology Station/University of Seville

Massive Mola mola surprises whale watchers

For a group of whale watchers on Tuesday, the highlight did not involve whales or dolphins, but a bizarre-looking fish called a Mola mola.

For a group of San Diego whale watchers on Tuesday, the highlight did not involve whales or dolphins, but a bizarre-looking fish called a Mola mola.

The surprise encounter occurred 10 miles southwest of Mission Bay as Capt. Domenic Biagini, of Gone Whale Watching San Diego, was searching for cetaceans. The Mola mola, or ocean sunfish, stood out because of its immense size and pale coloration as it lolled beneath the surface.

“It was really neat because most of the people on the boat specialized in diving, so this whole trip was something different for them,” Biagini told For The Win Outdoors. “Right as they got on the boat they asked about molas, and I explained how we haven’t seen that many this year. So for this to have happened on this specific trip made it that much more special.”

Mola molas are the world’s largest bony fishes (these do not include sharks or rays) and can measure up to 14 feet and weigh 5,000 pounds. They inhabit tropical and temperate seas and feed primarily on sea jellies, squid, small fish, and crustaceans.

Because of their truncated bodies, the position of their fins, and their odd-shaped mouths, their appearance is otherworldly. Or, as the Monterey Bay Aquarium states on its website, “Ocean sunfish, or molas, look like the invention of a mad scientist.”


Biagini said most Mola molas encountered off Southern California measure 2 to 3 feet, but the sunfish that swam around his boat for 10 minutes on Tuesday measured at least 7 feet.

“It was by far the largest I’ve ever seen,” he said.

The divers on the boat were so impressed that some were tempted to jump in for a swim with the docile critter. “It was hard keeping them in the boat,” Biagini joked. “But everyone behaved.”

–Images courtesy of Gone Whale Watching San Diego