A dead adult female ocean sunfish estimated to weigh more than 900 pounds washed ashore at the mouth of the Herring River in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, earlier this week, according to the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance. The fish was found dead on the beach by someone walking along the shoreline on Cape Cod's inner shore along Cape Cod Bay, NECWA said.
Dead adult female ocean sunfish estimated at more than 900 pounds found on Cape Cod beach
A dead adult female ocean sunfish estimated to weigh more than 900 pounds washed ashore at the mouth of the Herring River in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, earlier this week, according to the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance. The fish was found dead on the beach by someone walking along the shoreline on Cape Cod's inner shore along Cape Cod Bay, NECWA said.
Volunteers with the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance, a grassroots wildlife nonprofit, responded to the stranding, the group said. NECWA said each year, ocean sunfish on their migration journey south to warmer wintering areas during the fall can strand and die.
While following the Atlantic coast on their seasonal migration, ocean sunfish can become trapped in Cape Cod Bay, NECWA said. The peninsula's hook-shaped coastline and tides funnel them into the shallow, narrowing waters of Wellfleet Harbor, where the open-ocean fish can be caught by shallow waters and retreating tides and can strand and die, according to NECWA.
The species ranges across tropical and temperate oceans worldwide, from Iceland to Chile, and annually migrates to warmer wintering waters. Ocean sunfish can weigh more than 2,000 kilograms, or about 4,400 pounds. The fish found at Wellfleet weighed roughly 900 pounds, and its ovary alone weighed 13.2 pounds, researchers said.
Ocean sunfish are classified as "Vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List, an inventory of species' extinction risks and conservation statuses. Despite that status, they are among the most prolific breeders known; a single female can produce roughly 300 million eggs, one of the highest reproductive outputs among vertebrates, according to NOAA. NECWA said researchers collected data and tissue samples, along with photographs documenting the scene, to share with scientists worldwide and help answer basic questions about ocean sunfish biology and ecology.
- The source does not give the exact date the sunfish was found, stating only that it was earlier this week.
- The source does not identify the person who found the sunfish.
- The source does not state the cause of death beyond describing the fish as stranded after being trapped in shallow water and retreating tides.
- The source does not state whether a necropsy was performed or what the collected tissue samples will be tested for.
- The source does not state how many ocean sunfish strand in Cape Cod Bay or Wellfleet Harbor each year.
- The source does not provide a precise weight, describing the sunfish as estimated to weigh more than 900 pounds and roughly 900 pounds.
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