A rare fish measuring over seven feet long washed ashore June 3 in northwestern Oregon, causing a stir on social media and prompting an explanation from a researcher in New Zealand, Seaside Aquarium said Thursday.
The 7.3-foot-long hoodwinker sunfish, which is related to the ocean sunfish, drew visitors — even in stormy weather — to Gearhart beach, just north of Seaside, the aquarium said.
New Zealand-based ocean sunfish expert Marianne Nyegaard learned of the discovery and contacted Seaside Aquarium, according to the statement. Nyegaard reportedly suspected the fish was a hoodwinker sunfish (Mola tecta), a different species from the relatively well-known ocean sunfish (Mola mola), based on the photographs she had seen online.
Rare 7-foot fish washed ashore on Oregon’s coast garners worldwide attention https://t.co/AWttKU1zoa
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 7, 2024
A massive 7.3-foot hoodwinker sunfish washed up in Oregon June 3, surprising everyone who thought it only lived in the Southern Hemisphere. This rare find has drawn crowds and even caught the eye of a top fish researcher. https://t.co/LUjKkiNnZH pic.twitter.com/thmy0sE3UR
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) June 8, 2024
The aquarium’s staff reportedly took more photographs, measurements and tissue samples for genetic testing at Nyegaard’s request. Nyegaard then confirmed the fish was a hoodwinker sunfish, potentially the largest of its kind ever sampled, the aquarium said. (RELATED: Heartbreaking News Hits Fans Of Viral Sea Creature Believed Pregnant Without Male Companion)
“It was through [Nyegaard’s] research that she discovered and described this new species of sunfish, which she published in 2017,” Seaside Aquarium’s statement reads. “Dubbed a new species hiding in plain sight, it was genetic sampling and eventual observation that contributed to its finding.”
Nyegaard, a researcher affiliated with Murdoch University in Western Australia, was the lead author of the 2017 research paper which first fully described the elusive fish. The marine creature became “the first proposed addition to the genus Mola in 125 years,” according to the paper. Nyegaard was a doctoral student when she and her collaborators fully described the hoodwinker sunfish, a Murdoch University press release indicated. They also reportedly helped clear up some inaccuracies in the scientific naming of ocean sunfish species.
Nyegaard is the world’s leading expert on ocean sunfish, according to a University of California Santa Barbara news release that announced the first discovery of the hoodwinker sunfish in the Northern Hemisphere.
The hoodwinker sunfish had also been spotted ashore in California and as far as Alaska, discoveries that might challenge the currently held understanding that the species belonged only to the temperate waters of the Southern Hemisphere, Seaside Aquarium’s statement noted. It reportedly might have been mistaken for the ocean sunfish in the past.
The “remarkable” fish “is still on Gearhart beach and will probably remain for a few more days, maybe weeks as their tough skin makes it hard for scavengers to puncture,” Seaside Aquarium added, while also encouraging people to visit Gearhart Beach and view the fish for themselves.
