A giant sunfish carcass measuring over 3 meters washed ashore in the Azores has been confirmed as the heaviest bony fish specimen to date.
Giant sunfish found in the Azores. (Photo: Alexander Kotrschal)
According to a report by IFL Science on October 13, a sunfish specimen has become the heaviest bony fish in the world, weighing in at 2,744 kg. Sunfish are known to be the heaviest group of bony fish and can grow over 3 meters in length. There are three species: ocean sunfish (Mola mola), giant sunfish (Mola alexandrini), and hoodwinker sunfish (Mola tecta). They move up and down between the deep sea and the surface, where they can lie on their sides to bask in the sun and eliminate parasites with the help of seagulls.
In December 2021, the carcass of a giant sunfish washed ashore near Faial Island in the Azores, Portugal. Experts from the Azores Marine Stranding Network (Rede de Arrojamentos de Cetáceos dos Açores) brought it aboard their vessel, lifted it ashore, and weighed it with the assistance of a forklift. The result showed that the animal measured over 3 meters in length and weighed 2,744 kg, making it the heaviest bony fish ever recorded.
“This Mola alexandrini specimen is the heaviest bony fish recorded to date. It weighs 444 kg more than the previous largest specimen (2,300 kg), which was caught off the coast of Kamogawa, Japan, in 1996. Thus, the giant sunfish Mola alexandrini can weigh more than twice the maximum weight of the ocean sunfish Mola mola (the heaviest recorded weight is 1,320 kg)”, the scientists wrote in their study published in the journal Fish Biology.
The research team is still uncertain about what caused the death of this giant creature. A dent on its head with paint marks suggests that the animal may have collided with a boat, but scientists are unclear whether this occurred before or after its death. They hope to continue studying the specimen to gain new insights into this rare, giant, and mysterious species.
