Mathew Nicholas with the sunfish
Rescuers have been unable to save a giant fish washed up on a Norfolk beach.
"I saw these massive fins waving in the water, I thought it was a seal," said Mr Denniss, 67.
"I got down and had a look and it was a massive thing. It must have weighed 30lb or 40lb, it took two men to lift it out."
"I've been sea fishing for 50 years but I've never seen one in my life," he said.
The fish died, despite efforts to revive it.
"It had been in our waters for too long, it was too cold," he said. "It was very disoriented and very weak, we did everything we could. We'd love to have kept it over the winter, fed it up and then taken it to somewhere on the south coast and released it next summer, but alas it wasn't to be."
Sun fish are occasionally sighted off the coast of Devon and Cornwall. Little is known about the species, which are named after their round shape. They are believed to inhabit deep water over the continental shelf and feed on squid and jellyfish.
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Sal: A friend of mine saw a sunfish in Mabul Island while diving. It is also called Mola-mola. It is indeed a weird fish :) would love to see it one day.
Some facts on sunfish:
1. It is the heaviest known bony fish. Adult can weight up to 1000kg!
2. They eat mainly jellyfish... massive amount of jellyfish to accommodate their bulk.
3. They are members of the same order as pufferfish, filefish and porcupinefish.
Mola Mola basking in the sun horizontally... hence the name sunfish
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