'Stunned' researchers rescue 4,000-pound sunfish from net

'Stunned' researchers rescue 4,000-pound sunfish from net

By Pete Thomas

Source: usatoday

10/19/2021

Credit: fb

sunfish estimated to weigh more than 4,000 pounds – it was too heavy for the scale – has been rescued from a fishing net off the Spanish enclave of Cueta.

The colossal sunfish, believed to be of record size for the region, was pulled from the water with cranes and briefly studied before it was set free

According to the Estrecho Marine Biology Station of the University of Seville, the entangled sunfish was discovered off Cueta, on the north coast of Africa, on Oct. 4.

“We tried to put it on the 1,000-kg (2,204.6-pound) scale but it was too heavy. It would’ve broken it,” the station’s Enrique Ostale told Reuters. “Based off its corpulence and compared with other catches, it must’ve weighed around 2 tonnes (4,409 pounds).”