Two men were paddle boarding off the southern coast of California (USA) when suddenly a large creature with a strange shape emerged from the water to “inquire”. Both of them were surprised to see this creature come close to them.

Experts do not know the size of the giant fish but the board is 4.3m long, based on the photo, the moonfish is likely 2.7 – 3m long.

Rich German, one of the two paddlers and founder of the nonprofit Project O that protects, restores and conserves the oceans, caught the fish on December 2.

The fish may be of the common moonfish (Mola mola) . This fish lives in tropical and temperate waters, often swimming around coastal areas of California.

Moonfish swimming near the water at Laguna beach.

M. mola fish eat all kinds of marine prey, including small fish, fish larvae, squid and molluscs, jellyfish and fins.

Female sunfish can lay up to 300 million eggs at a time, the most of any vertebrate. Unlike their parents, baby moonfish are very small, only a few millimeters long. The size difference is so great that scientists have to sequence the DNA to confirm they belong to the same species. Once grown, the sunfish has large eyes, a huge head, and a high dorsal fin, which is sometimes mistaken for a shark’s fin when swimming near the surface of the water.

Moonfish are very susceptible to attack by sea lions, killer whales and sharks, but overfishing and bycatch are the main causes of their decline. That’s why the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the moonfish as a “vulnerable animal”.

The size of M. mola discovered this time is larger than the heaviest bony fish ever recorded, the 2.7m long and 2,300kg long-headed moonfish (Mola alexandrini) caught off the coast of Japan. 1996, according to the Guinness World Records.

Source: thepressagge.com