A sunfish was rescued in Bantry Bay earlier this week after becoming trapped in kelp.
This came after a call from a member of the public alerting the Two Oceans Aquarium Management Programme and the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) of the fish that was being smashed against the rocks.
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The fish had been able to free itself from the rocks by the time the rescuers arrived but was found, completely exhausted, trapped in kelp.
However, the teams combined their knowledge and navigated the sunfish to safety.
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The ocean sunfish is a large, grey-blue, oval-bodied fish with prominent and powerful dorsal and anal fins, but no tail fin. This gives the sunfish the appearance of only being ‘half a fish.’ Despite its unusual appearance, it is an active swimmer and is highly manoeuvrable.
They are the largest bony fish in the ocean – growing up to 3m in length and approximately 2000kg in weight.
Ocean sunfish have relatively small mouths, with fused teeth that give it a parrot-like beak. The beak is internal and hidden from view except when feeding. They use this beak to feed of jellyfish and salps, but will opportunistically feed on squid, fish, crustaceans and brittle stars.
Their skin is covered with a tough armour of dermal denticles, similar to that of sharks and rays.
Sunfish get their name because of their habit of basking on their sides on the ocean’s surface. This is done to help regulate their body temperatures, as these fish can dive to well over 600m – into frigid waters.
Ocean sunfish are found in all the oceans of the world, excluding the icy polar seas.
As open ocean-dwelling animals, they do not naturally occur in coastal ecosystems.
As a result, it is believed that this sunfish probably became disoriented and stressed, according to the NSRI.
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600-kilogramme ocean sunfish rescued from a Cape Town dry dock
Picture: Two Oceans Aquarium