(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/H.-U. Küenle)
A massive sea creature washed ashore in Oregon, leaving the locals baffled. It was so huge, and they thought it was a new species.
7-Foot Sea Creature In Oregon Identified
After washing up on a beach, a seven-foot sea monster "hiding in plain sight" and leaving people perplexed has finally been recognized.
The enormous fish, which belongs to the sunfish family, was found on Gearhart Beach in Oregon last week and quickly gained popularity on social media. After images of the enormous creature went viral, a scientist from New Zealand intervened to identify the species.
According to Seaside Aquarium, the 7.3 feet sunfish was observed on June 3.
Even though it was stormy, people were rushing to the beach to witness this rare fish, which, according to the aquarium, initially caused quite a buzz on social media.
Following her recent study of the fish, Kiwi Marianne Nyegaard recognized it right away. She identified it as a distinct species from the common ocean sunfish, Mola mola.
She was familiar with the hoodwinker sunfish (Mola tecta), a species not to be confused with the common ocean sunfish (Mola mola), based on the photos she had seen. Nyegaard's study discovered a novel sunfish species that was possibly available in 2017.
Its discovery-dubbed a new species "hiding in plain sight"-was made possible by DNA sampling and, eventually, observation. A handful have recently come ashore in California and other states, as far north as Alaska, challenging the assumption that they are restricted to the temperate waters of the southern hemisphere.
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What Is a Mola Tecta (Hoodwinker Ocean Sunfish)
The new sunfish species, Mola tecta, was formally described in July 2017. Since the word "tectus" means "hidden" in Latin, researchers wanted to convey that although this sunfish had been there for the entire time, it was out of sight since they hadn't examined enough material to notice minute changes between species.
This finding demonstrates that there are fresh things to uncover all around us. They hadn't identified this sunfish despite it washing up on beaches in large quantities.
It was the first new species of sunfish to be described in a century.
The mola is the heaviest of all bony fish. It can reach up to 14 feet vertically and 10 feet horizontally and weighs nearly 5,000 pounds.
Last year, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh's curators and collection specialists were ecstatic when a huge sunfish joined the family. The sea creature weighed 450 pounds and measured 82 inches (6.8 feet) from fin to fin and 74 inches (6.1 feet) from nose to tail.
The staff were delighted to add it to their museum exhibit and wish to provide researchers with access to the specimen.
Evolutionary biologist and museum curator of ichthyology Lily Hughes, Ph.D., said she enjoyed the good challenge of adding to the 1.4 million specimens in the collection, particularly since sunfish are uncommon and exceptional. But given its enormous size, she didn't know it would be challenging.
Hughes even posted a picture of the enormous marine animal lying in a blue container on Twitter. Due to its immense size, Hughes seemed small in comparison.
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