A giant oceanic sunfish weighing more than 6,000 pounds has been discovered in Portugal, and according to a recent report, the fish set the world record for being the largest bony fish known to mankind after its death.
According to the Association of Atlantic Naturalists, a non-profit research and education organization for Atlantic nature conservation, the dead fish was found in the water near Fayal, a Portuguese island in the Azores archipelago in the central North Atlantic.
An October 13, 2022 Ocean Monitoring Organization press release stated that the record fish was caught on December 9, 2021 and weighed 6,049.48 pounds (2,744 kilograms).
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It also measured about 11.8 feet (3.59 meters) tall and 10.7 feet (3.25 meters) long, according to an Atlantic Naturalist report recently published in the Journal of Fish Biology.
The largest sunfish in the Southern Ocean, weighing an estimated 6,049.48 pounds, was found in the waters off the Azores in Portugal. Scientists brought the dead fish to the beach for study.
(AtlanticNaturalist.org)
Researchers from the Atlantic Naturalist Association and the University of the Azores conducted a stomach-content search and DNA analysis to collect biometric and morphological data from the dead sunfish, but the fish could not be sexed, according to the six-page Atlantic Naturalist report.
According to the Australian Museum, the sunfish is a variety of Mola alexandrini, known in many parts of the world as Ramsay’s sunfish, southern ocean sunfish or hillhead sunfish.
Mola alexandrini are usually found in temperate and tropical marine waters in the Southern Hemisphere, but some may live or swim in the Northern Hemisphere.
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According to FishBase, the world’s fish species database, the southern species belongs to the larger Molidae family, known as ocean sunfish or mola mola.
Ocean sunfish are reportedly distinguished by their short bodies that end abruptly behind the dorsal and anal fins, giving them the appearance of half a fish. The fish also have skeletal bones instead of the cartilage seen in sharks and rays, and can weigh hundreds or thousands of pounds, according to National Geographic.
The FishBase classification profiles list the overall ocean sunfish population as “vulnerable” and the Mola alexandrini population as “very vulnerable.”
A dead sunfish found in 2021 had “white color and punctured eyes” and a “large contusion” on the right side of its head, typical of keelboats, with “remnants of brick red anti-paint,” but the fish had been struck before or after death, Atlantic Naturalists said. in the published report of the association.
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“The cause of death remains unknown,” wrote the Atlantic Naturalist.
The organization noted that the Mola Alexandrini sunfish found in Portugal broke the previous world record for the sunfish, Mola Alexandrini, which was found in Kamogawa, Japan in 1996 and was approximately 5,070.6 pounds (2,300 kilograms).
The Guinness Book of Records has not renewed the “heaviest bony fish” record on the Internet.
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“These findings not only help us understand the role of invertebrate feeder species in marine ecosystems, but also show that the ocean is still healthy enough to support the world’s largest animals,” Atlantic Naturalist wrote in its press release. “However, they are raising concerns about ocean pollution and the need for additional conservation measures related to boat traffic.”
