Finding a giant 2.5m southern ocean sunfish washed up at Lake Ellesmere was an "unbelievable experience" for two Canterbury fishermen.
Southbridge's Jethro Wyllie was fishing in Taumutu about 8am with his friend Lawrence Knight yesterday when they spotted what they thought was a leopard seal about 800m away.
They hopped in Wyllie's Suzuki Jimny and made their way along the beach to investigate. To their surprise they found it was a giant sunfish.
"When we got down there it was like 'holy moses, you would never get a bigger one',” Wyllie said.
"It’s truly an incredible thing. You could look into its eye and it had just died, it wasn’t hazed over or anything, it was quite eerie."
The others are common sunfish (Mola mola), slender sunfish (Ranzania laevis) and sharp-tailed sunfish (Masterus lanceolutus).
Wyllie estimated it was about 2.5m and weighed between 1.5-2 tonnes.
Sunfish are the heaviest bony fish species alive. Common sunfish weigh around a tonne on average, with biggest caught to date coming in at over two tonnes.
The southern ocean sunfish is not considered rare in New Zealand waters. It is a native oceanic giant frequently found in the country's temperate areas.
"It looked like something from the dinosaurs,” Wyllie said.
They have no scales but rather tough, elastic skin covered in mucus.
Since he shared photos and a video of the sea creature on social media, Wyllie says his phone has barely stopped beeping.
- If you spot a live sunfish offshore or find a stranded specimen, the Department of Conservation recommends you record the size, take photos, and note the exact location. Then contact DOC on 0800 362 468 so it can manage the stranding and notify local museums.
