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Trawler nets monster sunfish
25.08.09
Holy Mola!
by Linda McGrory
THE crew of a Greencastle trawler got a surprise
'catch of the day' when they hauled up their nets to
reveal one of the biggest fish they had ever seen.
The MFV Northern Celt was fishing at Stanton Bank
around 25 miles north west of Malin Head when they
netted the monster sunfish earlier this month. |
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Fisherman Jim
Farren said: "I've been fishing for 14 years and
have seen a lot of sunfish over the years, but
nothing this size."
"The beast", as the stunned local crewmen dubbed it,
was more than 5ft long and nearly 6ft in height from
fin-tip to fin-tip.
The ocean sunfish - Latin name, Mola Mola - is the
world's largest bony fish. It has been known to tip
the scales at two tonnes and can measure up to 11ft
from fin tip to fin tip. |
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Sunfishes are found in
tropical as well as polar seas and can be mistaken
for sharks, because of their large dorsal fin. A
team of international scientists, co-ordinated by
the Coastal & Marine Resources Centre at University
College Cork, succeeded in satellite-tagging ocean
sunfish off the coast of Dingle, Co Kerry, two years
ago. |
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Irish fisheries
research group, Taighde Mara Teo, provided
logistical and technical support while the Marine
Institute and Údaras Na Gaeltachta funded the
research.
It is thought that increased sightings of sunfish in
Irish waters could be a sign of climate change.
Meanwhile, this fine sunfish specimen was captured
alive and released without harm by the Northern Celt
crewmen including Juri Petrov from Estonia and Mark
Reynolds from Greencastle. |
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