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A close-up of a Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish).
(IStock)
An extraordinarily rare oceanic sunfish that has never before been reported in the Northern Hemisphere was found on a Californian beach earlier this month, in a unique and exciting discovery for biologists at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
On February 19, a 15 meter sunfish, known as Mola tecta, was discovered on Sands Beach in the Coal Oil Point Reserve of the Santa Barbara Coal Reserve, according to the university.
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Jessica Nielsen, Conservation Specialist at Coal Oil Point Reserve, was first briefed by a fish trainee, but initially thought it was a mola mola sunfish, more current in the area. Molca tecta sunfish are found in the southern hemisphere.
She will later learn that she was wrong, but maybe in the best way possible.
"It's certainly the most remarkable organism I've seen on the beach for the last four years I've been working on the reserve," she said in a statement.
"I literally fell off my chair."
Later, Thomas Turner, Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at the University of Santa Barbara, went to the scene to observe the fish. He then posted pictures of the creature on the iNaturalist website, which allowed scientists around the world to help identify the species.
Fortunately, the couple has received the help of none other than Marianne Nyegaard of Murdoch University in Australia, who was awarded in 2017 the huge discovery and description of the creature, from the about two tons.
Nyegaard, after Turner and Nilsen provided him with clearer and more detailed photos, was able to determine that he was a cheater. The scientists also took tissue samples from the fish for further research.
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"I literally nearly fell off my chair," Nyegaard said in his release, which also made it clear that it's unclear how the moonfish was found so far from its normal range.
"The eyes, the ears and the hands on the ground, on the other side of the world, wow," she added.
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