They found a strange fish stranded on the Australian coast

March 20, 2019

This impressive specimen, measuring nearly 2 meters, was located by a group of fishermen on the shore.

An impressive fish was found on a beach south of Australia The animal, nearly 2 meters long, has been identified as a Moonfish (Mola Mola).

Fishermen who threw bait on the beach near the mouth of the river Murray They found the copy. Interestingly, just a few weeks ago, another specimen (that of the sister species Mola tecna) appeared under the same circumstances, thousands of kilometers away, on the coast Santa Barbara, California.

The moon fish they inhabit the tropical and temperate waters of the entire planet. They are a real show, since weighs an average of 1,000 kilos, reaching some 2 tons and up to 3 meters long.

The giant, capable of causing serious damage to pleasure craft, also has a curious bodily architecture, the body crushed laterally. When it spreads its fins, it results in a kind of huge pancake as long as high.

One of its most noteworthy features is that females can produce up to 300 million eggs, more than any other known vertebrate.

It is not surprising that the fish caught the attention of fishermen, who published photographs of the discovery in Facebook. At first, they even thought it was wrong, according to the social network. Ralph Foster, Responsible for collecting fish from South Australian Museum, he explained to ABC Australia that finding this species in the waters of the country is rather rare.

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In English, the sunfish is called sunfish, but not because of its shape. As Foster said in the same medium, the reason is that these fish come to the surface and lie on their sides, as if they were sunbathing. When they are warm enough, they dive to several hundred meters and feed on jellyfish and other creatures from the depths.