| A Giant Sunfish In the Azores Weighed In as the Heaviest Bony Fish On Record | |
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There are many strange creatures in the sea. Big and small, cute and terrifying, weird and weirder. One of those creatures is the giant mola, also known as the ocean sunfish. In December of 2021, a dead one was found floating near Faial Island off Horta Harbor in the Azores archipelago, Portugal. Turns out it was the heaviest bony fish ever recorded. How heavy was it, you ask? A staggering 6,050 pounds. |
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Ocean sunfishes are the heaviest living bony fish in the world. They can generally grow up to 10 feet in length — although the one found in the Azores was longer — and apparently weigh more than 6,000 pounds. Most of the time, they’re floating around in the deep ocean, but they do come up to the surface on occasion, where they float on their sides to warm up and let the birds eat the parasites off them. The birds or Mark Healey, who ever gets there first. |
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