A group of Spanish fishermen caught a sunfish 3.2 meters long, 2.9 meters wide and weighing two tons in early October on October 4. The giant animal was trapped in a tuna fishing net off the Mediterranean coast in Ceuta, Spain.
The size of the sunfish is a record for the region. A biologist evaluated the fish, which are only found in the depths of the ocean, and they were returned to the sea.
The mammoth fish is considered an endangered species and is not consumed in Europe. The head of the Marine Biology Laboratory at the University of Seville in Ceuta explained that the fish was so heavy for a one-ton scale that it almost broke under the weight.
Although this type is abnormal, it is not rare. To be released, the fish was isolated in an underwater chamber attached to the boat and lifted aboard by a crane, where it remained out of the water for a few minutes. Meanwhile, a team of biologists took measurements, pictures and DNA samples.
Biologists say the fish is most likely a mole fish, a subspecies of the molefish genus. He has gray skin, rounded edges, and a large, prehistoric head.
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