Atlantic Sunfish Sighting
Atlantic Sunfish Sighting
Ever seen a 200 pound Sun fish? No I am not talking about the kind you might find in fresh water. I am talking about the rare Atlantic Sunfish (Scientific Name: Mola mola). Shaped like an ancient stone axe head, the extraordinary sunfish inhabits the waters of the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. They often drift at the surface while lying on its their side, or they will swim upright so close to the surface that the dorsal fin projects above the water (from a distance you could mistake the dorsal for a shark). They can reach 11ft in length and can weigh in at as much as 3000lbs. They feed mainly on plankton and jellyfish.
We were lucky enough to run into this Atlantic Sunfish 2 miles off the coast of Marshfield. We drifted along side this wonderful creature for a few minutes one afternoon. It was not afraid of the boat at all. In fact it appeared to be curious, looking up as he cruised along side us. It was just another one of those surprise moments the Ocean is so good at delivering.
October 8th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
WOW! You are very lucky to have captured such a great photo! Keep up the great posts.
Len
August 23rd, 2006 at 2:49 am
I saw one of these off the coast of NJ, near Barnegat Inlet, on mon. August 21, 2006. What a beautiful, and curious creature. I knew at the time I was seeing something rare!
August 30th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
We just were offshore from Brooklin ME today and saw ocean sunfish. We were amazed at how large, odd looking and curious they were. Thanks for the great pictures and the confirmation of the identification - a very usual fish for all of us to see!
September 10th, 2006 at 10:26 am
Saw a very large Ocean Sunfish just off Plum Island, Newburyport, Sept. 9, 2006, in aboput 25 feet of water. Larger than the one you saw, I think, with lots of barnacles and discolorations. Same behavior. A wierd and amazing sight!
November 10th, 2006 at 12:00 am
My husband and his surfy pals are not sure whether they saw a large shark or sunfish a few days ago off the beach from St. Augustine, FL. What do you think? We are near to the area and surprised by any pelagic sighting.
Thanks, ALi
September 27th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Fishing for flounder off Plum Island Mass Sept 25 2007, we had just released a skate and a fin protruded from the water, looking closer we saw an atlantic sunfish. I knew what they were from the discovery channel. The sunfish got so close I could touch its dorsal fin. After about 10 mins he swam off. While moving to another fishing spot we spotted 8 other sunfish in the water all up top and really making our fishing trip a great experience and memory to remember, thanks for the photo , our camera phones could not get a goood pic. Thanks again for the info and pic.