The fish was identified as the sunfish family by a New Zealand scientist after images of the behemoth flooded social media and was dubbed a “new species hiding in plain sight”
A seven-foot sea giant that had been “hiding in plain sight” has finally been identified after it washed up on a beach, leaving locals scratching their heads.
The massive fish, part of the sunfish family, became a social media sensation last week after it was discovered on Gearhart beach in Oregon. A Kiwi scientist stepped in to identify the colossal creature after pictures of the big fella went viral.
The Seaside Aquarium revealed that the 7.3-foot sunfish was spotted on June 3.
“Initially, this large, strange-looking fish was creating quite a stir on social media and though it was stormy, folks were flocking to the beach to see this unusual fish,” the aquarium shared on Facebook. Marianne Nyegaard from New Zealand was quick to recognise the fish as a species different from the common ocean sunfish, or Mola mola, after she had recently studied it.
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“The photographs she saw indicated that this might not be a run-of-the-mill ocean sunfish (Mola mola) but a different species that she was very familiar with, the hoodwinker sunfish (Mola tecta),” the aquarium added.
It was Nyegaard’s research that led to the discovery and description of this new sunfish species, which she published back in 2017, reports the Mirror.