It is a flat, round, gray fish that has been lying for several days on the sand of Gearhart Beach, in the US state of Oregon. The imposing 2.2 meter marine animal washed up on May 27, according to a Facebook post from the aquarium in Seaside, the nearest town.
The information circulated on social networks and in the international press, before reaching the ear of researcher Marianne Nyegaard in New Zealand. She was the one who confirmed that it was a deceptive sunfish, also called Mola tecta, a different species from the sunfish (Mola mola). According to her, it may be the largest specimen ever sampled.
The species was first discovered on a beach near Christchurch in New Zealand in 2014. Tecta in Latin means hidden, referring to a new species that was “hiding in plain sight,” the aquarium.
Very rare, this large fish was thought to live only in temperate waters of the southern hemisphere, but specimens were photographed by divers in Monterey Bay in 2019, says the Monterey Bay Aquarium. And that same year, a deceptive sunfish washed up in Santa Barbara, California.
An autopsy revealed that Gearhart’s death was likely the result of a collision with a boat. Ships represent a great danger for several maritime species, including cetaceans. Every year, more than 3,500 collisions between cetaceans and boats (…)
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