The ocean is a weird and wonderful place filled with weird and wonderful creatures. One such weird and wonderful ocean critter that’s been making waves in the news is that of an unfortunate sunfish.
Now, the first thing you should know about these fish is that they’re huge. They’re one of the two heaviest known bony fish swimming in our oceans with adults reaching weights up to 2000 kilograms.
According to the Two Oceans Aquarium, a large sunfish happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The wrong place being Robinson Dry Dock in the V&A Waterfront, and the wrong time being, as the water was being drained from the dock.
However, thanks to the quick actions of the dock master and specialists at the Two Oceans Aquarium, the sunfish was airlifted to safety.
So, just how did these amazing humans make this happen for the unfortunate sunfish?
Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation Head of Research Dr Nathalie Viljoen and Research Assistant Calley Chateau-Cyster, got hold of Tino Williams, the dry dock pump operator, who agreed to lower the dock water just enough to ensure the sunfish was safe but to give the rescue team the opportunity to do the necessary work.
Once the water was low enough, the work began.
“The distressed sunfish was quite weak, so it was fairly easy to flip it on its side to load it onto the stretcher,” said Calley. “Once it was safely secured on the stretcher, we swam it across to the steps of the dry dock where we collected biological measurements,” said Calley.
The sunfish weighed a whopping 760kg, had a total length of 160cm, a pre-caudal length (PCBL) of 122cm, and a total body depth (TBD) of 189cm!
“During the boat ride, we scooped buckets of water to pour onto the mouth of the sunfish and monitored its breathing. Once we were safely out of the harbour we jumped into the water and released the sunfish. We held on to it for a few minutes to check its breathing. Once it regained strength we all let go and it swam off strongly.”
“Releases like this are always so inspirational as a team quickly pulls together and does what it is needed to safely rescue the animal. We are very grateful to the people managing the dry docks who always alert us to animals in distress and also to Tandem Cranes for helping us get this sunfish safely out of the dry dock. Teamwork really makes the dream work!” She continued.
The sunfish is now back where it belongs thanks to the incredible work of the Two Oceans Aquarium and the inspiring rescue team.
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Pictures: Two Oceans Aquarium