Experts Solve Mystery Of Bizarre 7ft Fish Washed Up On US Beach

A bizarre giant fish creature washed up on a Californian beach had experts stumped.

Researchers from the University of California in Santa Barbara had to carry out tests on tissue samples to determine the species, which turned out to be something called a hoodwinker sunfish, (or mola tecta).

The weird-looking creature has never been spotted in the northern hemisphere again - in fact, it was only discovered in 2017, by Marianne Nyegaard, from Murdoch University in Australia, who gave it the name 'hoodwinker' as it has been so elusive for so long.

The 7ft-long fish washed up on Coal Oil Point Reserve last month and photos of the find were shared on social media, with experts from the University of California and staff at the reserve worked together to get to the bottom of the mystery.

A spokesperson from the University said: "There are rare finds, and then there are out-of-nowhere, first-ever discoveries that send scientists' hearts aflutter."

Thomas Turner, an evolutionary biologist who snapped the pics, said: "It's the most unusual fish you've ever seen.

"It has no tail. All of its teeth are fused, so it doesn't have any teeth. It's just got this big round opening for a mouth."

Nyegaard was sent a photo of the 'mysterious fish' by fellow expert Ralph Forster and says she was instantly curious.

Thomas Turner/Twitter

She said: "I thought that the fish surely looked an awful lot like a hoodwinker, but frustratingly, none of the photos showed the clavus (a rounded rudder) clearly.

"And with a fish so far out of range, I was extremely reluctant to call it a hoodwinker without clear and unambiguous evidence of its identity.

"I just couldn't be sure due to pixellation and kept thinking I was totally being hoodwinked by this stranded sunfish."

Speaking to CNN she said this was the first time the fish had been spotted in the northern hemisphere - with previous sightings near to New Zealand, Australia, Chile and South Africa.

"This is why it's so intriguing why it has turned up in California," she added. "We know it has the temperate distribution around here and off the coast of Chile, but then how did it cross the equator and turn up by you guys?

"It's intriguing, what made this fish cross the equator."

Topics: Weird, Animals, US

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19