Huge alien-like sea creature washed up on beach stuns tourists
Beachgoers were stunned after a huge alien-looking sea creature washed ashore in Australia.
The super-sized fish was spotted by tourists visiting Kennett River on Victoria's south-west coast back in July 2020.
Cath and Tom Rampton, who both happen to be vets, were shocked when they stumbled upon the fish - which was around two-metres in length - as neither of them had ever seen one before.
Images shared on social media show the sheer size of the massive creature, which is known as an ocean sunfish.
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Incredibly, despite its bumper size, the fish is actually on the smaller side for its breed.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Cath said: “My understanding is it's not a very big specimen, I think they can get up to double that size.”
And she’s not wrong - according to National Geographic, ocean sunfish, otherwise known as mola mola, can grow up to 4.2 metres (14 feet) vertically and three metres (10 feet) horizontally, weighing up to nearly 5,000lbs. I wouldn’t fancy a run-in with that.
Fellow tourists Tim Rothman and James Barham were equally as surprised to see the fish and reckoned it looked a bit like an alien. I mean, I can see what they mean, to be honest.
In an interview with the Geelong Advertiser, Tim said: “We were walking along and saw this big lump on the sand. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It looked like an alien from a distance.”
It looks quite like an alien on those close up photos as well, to tell you the truth, Tim.
Ocean sunfish usually live in in temperate and tropical oceans around the world and - as the name suggests - they can often be seen near the surface of the water basking in the sunshine.
However, in recent years they’ve been spotted off the coast of the UK. Back in June 2020, a woman named Liz Hemsley managed to snap a photo of one swimming near Portland Harbour, Dorset.
According to the British Sea Fishing website: "As the unusual appearance of the sunfish suggests this species originates in tropical seas around the equator, but it appears to be getting more common around the south of England in the summer months, something many people put down to global warming and climate change.
"However, it is worth noting that sunfish have been caught - very occasionally - for decades with the shore caught record of 49lb 4oz (a mere baby by sunfish standards) standing since 1976, and sunfish have been reported all around the UK, not just in the south."
Claire Reid