Fishers recently experienced an extraordinarily heavy catch after they found an overweight colossal ocean sunfish which, according to a marine biologist, was way too heavy that they could not put it on the scale.
The catch, Live Science reported, a colossal ocean sunfish weighed 4,400 pounds or 2,000 kilograms and was found off the coast of North Africa.
Heavy marine biologists approximated the weight of the mammoth fish based on its girth, to be the sunfish's dimensions that had formerly been captured and weighed.
In a Reuters report, Enrique Ostale said they tried to put the heavy catch on the 1,000-kilogram scale, but it was way "too heavy."
The Giant Animal Tangled in Fishers' Net
Fishers in a Spanish territory called Ceuta, which borders Morocco discovered the gigantic animal tangled in their nets early this month. Immediately, they called Ostale, head of the Seville University's Marine Biology Lab in Cueta, to study the giant sunfish. Following the initial isolation of the said creature in an underwater pen connected to the boat, the team hauled the fish briefly into the air through the use of a crane.
Similar to other ocean sunfish, all of which belong to the genus Mola, the heavy find resembled an oval-shaped pancake that has big, googly eyes that are stuck to its sides. A pair of huge, winglike fins extended from the fish's tom and bottom. Essentially, in the ocean, sunfish are waving these fins to and fro in order to propel their overweight bodies through the water.
Measurement of the Heavy Catch
When the sunfish was pulled on deck, the marine biologists measured it and found it to be 10.5 feet long and 9.5 feet wide. For comparison, typically, a king-sized bed has a length and width of only 6.6 feet by 6.3 feet, respectively.
Following measurement of the sunfish, as well as taking images and DNA samples, the crew released it back into the sea, where, this report said, it soon vanished into the watery depths. Ostale explained, when they arrived there, they felt astonished.
He added, they could not believe their luck as they had read books and articles on the dimension a sunfish can have, although they do not know they'd ever be able to watch the creature and touch it themselves. Based on the fish's sides' grooves marking, as well as its stumpy "clavus," a rudder-like structure on the back of the said fish, Ostale, together with his colleagues, were able to identify the animal as a species which they called Mola alexandrine, also identified as a "bump-head" sunfish due to its unique lump on its head.
M. Alexandrine Babies
Even though adult sunfish are ranked as the most gigantic bony fish on Earth, scientists recently discovered M. alexandrine babies that measured only a few millimeters long, a separate Live Science report specified.
Small larvae look nothing like their adult counterparts, although over time, they grow to be about 600 times their original size and transform into the said commonly known winged-pancake shape.
The gigantic sunfish recently caught in Cueta set a record as the largest fish of its kind ever captured in the region dimensions-wise.
However, in general, the sunfish species can develop even bigger, not to mention heavier. Currently, the heaviest M. alexandrine specimen weighing 5,070 pounds or 2,300 kilograms, making it the weightiest sunfish species ever weighed.
Related information about the marine discovery is shown on VOA News's YouTube video below:
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