Enormous fish 'like half a mutilated shark' could beat world record with giant size

Enormous fish 'like half a mutilated shark' could beat world record with giant size

By Graeme Murray Matt Wheaton

Source: mirror

12/9/2021

Credit: Rich German/Pen News

A giant fish like “half a mutilated shark” could smash the world record.

Rich German and Matt Wheaton were paddle boarding when they encountered an enormous sunfish.

They were in the US city of Laguna Beach, California when they made the freaky discovery.

Mr German said: “My buddy, Matt, and I were just paddling and came across it… it was hard to miss! It was nine to 10 feet long, way bigger than myself.

“It’s hard to compare a sunfish to other creatures because they are so bizarre looking – they look like a mutilated shark that got bitten in half. I’ve seen many over the years but this was definitely the biggest.”

The world’s largest bony fish by weight was another sunfish caught in 1996 off Kamogawa – a city in Chiba, Japan, says the Guinness World Records.

It weighed 2,300kg and measured 8ft 11in long – and though the two men didn’t measure the fish they encountered, they’re confident it was bigger.

“Well we didn’t catch it or have a measuring tape but the largest sunfish on record is 8ft 11in,” said Rich, 52.
“Matt’s board is 14ft long," he added, "and if you look at the pics you can see for yourself how big it looks.