A nearly 7-foot-long alien-like ocean sunfish recently caused “quite a stir” after it was discovered on a beach in Oregon.
Last week, Oregon’s Seaside Aquarium released a post on Facebook, confirming that an ocean sunfish, also known as a Mola mola, had been discovered at Hug Point State Park, which is located in Arch Cape, Oregon. Seaside Aquarium wrote, “Another Mola mola has washed ashore at Hug Point State Park and it is creating quite a stir. While it has been dead for quite some time, it is still an interesting site. If you want to go see it, we recommend heading to Huge Point at low tide and head north towards the waterfall.”
Seaside Aquarium reported that the sunfish discovered at Hug Point State Park was 6.9 feet long. The aquarium noted that Mola mola can reach up to 10 feet in length and can weigh up to 5,000 pounds. Seaside Aquarium added, “They feed heavily on jellyfish which are in huge abundance this time of year.”
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According to Seaside Aquarium, three sunfish have been discovered on the shores of Clatsop County since June. The aquarium said two of the sunfish discovered have been ocean sunfish (Mola mola), while the other fish discovered was a hoodwinker sunfish (Mola tecta).
“It is not unusual for [sunfish] to wash ashore as they do reside off the Oregon Coast,” the aquarium noted. “We are getting more reports because of the stir that the Mola tecta caused when it washed in (it was the first Mola tecta documented in Oregon, but that is likely because it has just recently been described and designated as a new species).”
Seaside Aquarium added, “People are aware that we are interested in documenting these strandings and collecting information from them.”
Seaside Aquarium’s post attracted significant attention on social media, with many users commenting about the decaying state of the huge fish. One user wrote, “It has now washed to the south end of Hug Point beach. With quite an aroma.” Meanwhile, another user wrote, “We saw it last week. It was pretty deteriorated then.”
A picture of the Mola mola has been shared on X, formerly Twitter, showing the decaying remains of the huge fish.
