Giant 7-foot Sunfish Found on Oregon Beach Turns Out to Be Rarest Member of the Species

[Michie]

The hoodwinker sunfish – credit Seaside Aquarium, retrieved from Facebook

When a giant ocean oddity washed up on a beach in northern Oregon, residents were flocking to get a closer look at a rarely-seen fish.

Believing it to be the charismatic Mola mola, or ocean sunfish, pictures eventually made their way across the Pacific to the desk of marine biologist Marianne Nyegaard, who recognized that it was, in fact, a different species—one that’s even more mysterious.

Recognized as distinct from M. mola, the hoodwinker sunfish, or Mola tecta, was only identified in 2017. Since then only a few confirmed sightings of the fish have been made, and Nyegaard would know—she’s the one who first described and named it.

Continued below.

Giant 7-foot Sunfish Found on Oregon Beach Turns Out to Be Rarest Member of the Species

Recognized as distinct from M. mola, the hoodwinker sunfish, or Mola tecta, was only identified in 2017.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

 

[AlexB23]

The hoodwinker sunfish – credit Seaside Aquarium, retrieved from Facebook

When a giant ocean oddity washed up on a beach in northern Oregon, residents were flocking to get a closer look at a rarely-seen fish.

Believing it to be the charismatic Mola mola, or ocean sunfish, pictures eventually made their way across the Pacific to the desk of marine biologist Marianne Nyegaard, who recognized that it was, in fact, a different species—one that’s even more mysterious.

Recognized as distinct from M. mola, the hoodwinker sunfish, or Mola tecta, was only identified in 2017. Since then only a few confirmed sightings of the fish have been made, and Nyegaard would know—she’s the one who first described and named it.

Continued below.

Giant 7-foot Sunfish Found on Oregon Beach Turns Out to Be Rarest Member of the Species

Recognized as distinct from M. mola, the hoodwinker sunfish, or Mola tecta, was only identified in 2017.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

Dang, that is huge.