According to a new study, a 3-ton sunfish found near a Portuguese island has set a new world record.
The giant sunfish was found off the coast of Faial Island in the Azores in December of 2021. According to a statement from the Atlantic Naturalist Association, the carcass was taken back to the port so it could be studied.
A new study detailing the results of a necropsy on a giant sunfish has been published. The humongous fish was around 12 feet tall and around 11 feet long, and it weighed around 3 tons. The researchers took samples of the sunfish's genetic material.
The dead fish is a "majestic specimen" according to the study's lead author. He said that the pictures of its corpse don't do justice to how amazing it must have looked.
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What is the largest freshwater fish in the world?
The previous world record for the heaviest fish was held by a giant sunfish caught in Japan in 1996.
Sunfish are named because they bask in the sunlight at the ocean surface, which scientists believe is how they re- heat themselves after long dives into cold, dark waters in search of food.
The ocean sunfish (Mola mola), which grow to half the size of the recently discovered giant sunfish, have been misclassified as large individuals of the more common ocean sunfish. A study published in the journal Ichthyological Research classified the species as a unique one.
The exact number of giant sunfish can't be determined.
The world's heaviest freshwater fish was caught in Cambodia in June.
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