A group of Portuguese scientists announced that they discovered the world’s heaviest bony fish in the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.
The giant sunfish, which weighed just over 3 tonnes, was found dead in the water by a fisherman in the Azores island of Faial last December, researchers said. With the Atlantic Naturalists Association, a Portuguese ocean conservation organization, a group helped land the giant creature.
“Of course, we realized it was a giant sunfish… that day we realized it had to be a world record,” said Jose Nuno Gomes-Pereira, a researcher with the Atlantic Natural History Association.
Gomes-Pereira and his team enlisted the help of a forklift to weigh and measure the fish.
It was 10.6 feet long and weighed about 6,050 pounds. peer reviewed Journal of Fish Biology. It became the most living bony fish ever documented, beating the record set by the sunfish Mola alexandrini of the same species in 1996. It was discovered in Japanese waters and weighed about 2.5 tons, according to a research paper.
There are two types of fish, cartilaginous and bony. According to Gomes-Pereira, bony fish make up the majority of fish – carp, salmon and bass. Cartilaginous fish have skeletons made of cartilage and include species such as sharks and stingrays.
Although the sunfish found in Portugal is the heaviest bony fish ever discovered, it is far from the heaviest ocean creature.
Cartilaginous whale sharks weigh about 11 tons, According to the World Wildlife Fund.
The largest animal in the ocean (and the world) is the blue whale, a mammal that can weigh up to 200 tons and stretch nearly 100 feet. According to the WWF. He also the world’s largest animal, period.
Gomes-Pereira told USA TODAY Friday that the sunfish discovery is encouraging in part because it shows the ocean can still support life for some of the planet’s largest fish. Ocean sunfish are listed as vulnerable to extinction International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Accurate population estimates for the Mola alexandrini species are scarce, Gomes-Pereira said. He believes the number could be several thousands, based on the frequency of sightings by fishermen.
But the historic discovery also highlighted a significant threat to large ocean wildlife.
“It’s also a warning – because we found the animal dead – that there should be more control of boat traffic,” Gomes-Pereira said. A large depression on the sunfish indicated that it had likely died in a ship collision.
OCEAN SPEED LIMITS: Huge ships kill endangered whales every year.
What is the biggest whale?Meet the blue whale.
Gomes-Pereira said large cargo ships sailing near ocean islands such as the Azores pose a threat to rich marine biodiversity.
“This is a breeding ground for turtles, sharks and whales… it’s an international problem,” Gomes-Pereira said.
This phenomenon has been particularly severe in the Pacific Ocean, where at least 80 whales are killed by cargo ship collisions each year, with the worst years on record occurring in 2018, 2019 and 2021. This was reported by USA TODAY.
“We can all do a little better in this respect,” Gomes-Pereira said. “In some cases, it’s international legislation, it’s not easy. Therefore, I hope that this finding can contribute a little to the discussion.”
To learn more about this particular species of sunfish, scientists took samples from the fish’s skin and analyzed its stomach contents.
