The Ocean Sunfish
March 9, 2008

Since we saw this washed ashore I have been reading about the Ocean Sunfish online and what a fascinating fish this is! A sometimes very large and yet gentle creature.
I can't stop thinking about it and I came across a fantastic site that has wonderful photography and information from a research team that studies the Ocean Sunfish. Check it out! oceansunfish.org
Also be sure to watch the video from Marine Biologist, Tierney Thys.

The Ocean Sunfish and Sea Turtles eat Jelly Fish and I read that said they sometimes mistake discarded plastic bags for Jelly Fish and of course that cannot have a good end. It appears that this Sunfish met his end with the propellor of a boat, but on the day that we saw this we also picked up around 20 plastic bags off of the beach. Anything from small candy wrappers, ice bags, grocery bags all the way up to large trash bags. It's just unbelievable how much trash we find on the beach. I'd like to get on my soap box now and say...the ocean is NOT a trash can!



We took the photo upside down because we really didn't know what type of fish we were looking at when we found it and it was difficult to tell with the injuries which way was the right side. So, I flipped this photo so that you can see the right way that the fish would swim. It was sad to see him this way.



Here is Steve looking at the Ocean Sunfish. We are guessing that it was probably about 6 ft long.



Here I am pointing out the anal fin, which points down when the fish is swimming unless he is flipped on his side near the surface basking in the sun.



Close up of the anal fin.



This is where the dorsal fin should be, but it was either gone or buried in the sand. We couldn't see it.