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Rare 7-foot Hoodwinker Sunfish Washed Ashore on Oregon’s Coast

Posted on 6/7/24 at 4:48 pm
Posted by Shexter
Prairieville
Member since Feb 2014
19181 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 4:48 pm



https://apnews.com/article/oregon-beach-rare-fish-sunfish-88e3ce7dd6369defcf0a1a2498773c13



quote:

GEARHART, Ore. (AP) — A massive rare fish thought to only live in temperate waters in the southern hemisphere has washed up on Oregon’s northern coast, drawing crowds of curious onlookers intrigued by the unusual sight.

The 7.3-foot hoodwinker sunfish first appeared on the beach in Gearhart on Monday, the Seaside Aquarium said in a media release. It was still on the beach on Friday and may remain there for weeks, the aquarium said, as it is difficult for scavengers to puncture its tough skin.

Photos provided by the aquarium showed a flat, round, gray fish lying on its side in the sand. Photos of a person kneeling next to it, and another of a pickup truck parked next to it, gave a sense of its large scale and size.




quote:

she believed it may be the largest such fish ever sampled, according to the aquarium.




Posted by Hangover Haven
Metry
Member since Oct 2013
32070 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 4:49 pm to
I bet the smell is awesome....

Looks like it's about to pop...
Posted by Tangineck
Mandeville
Member since Nov 2017
2756 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 4:49 pm to
One of nature's most curious creations.
Posted by LegendInMyMind
Member since Apr 2019
71762 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 4:57 pm to
quote:

Hoodwinker

Posted by greenbean
USAF Retired - 31 years
Member since Feb 2019
6100 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:01 pm to
Another victim of claimant change.
Posted by tigerstripedjacket
This side of the wall
Member since Sep 2011
3127 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:02 pm to
It will be extinct soon. It probably washed up there after getting trapped in a a current - they can’t even navigate themselves using their fins.
Posted by soccerfüt
Location: A Series of Tubes
Member since May 2013
72850 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:02 pm to
Oh those crazy Hoodwinker Sunfishes, always playing possum!

quote:


Posted by Oilfieldbiology
Member since Nov 2016
41444 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:05 pm to
Stupid fish
Posted by GumboPot
Member since Mar 2009
138911 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:05 pm to
I saw one like that at the Grand Isle Rodeo a long time ago.
Posted by GumboPot
Member since Mar 2009
138911 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:05 pm to
quote:

Stupid fish


Probably sick.
Posted by Cycledude
Member since Jul 2018
2126 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:06 pm to
Sad looking creature. If they got to it soon enough, it would have made a fine courtbullion!
Posted by Oilfieldbiology
Member since Nov 2016
41444 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:07 pm to
No, I’m not calling this individual fish stupid. I’m calling the entire species of fish stupid
Posted by Deplorable Duke
Lousyana
Member since Nov 2016
2619 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:10 pm to
That’s fake. Anything coming oot of Oregon, you simply cannot believe to be true.
Posted by North Dallas Tiger
United States of America
Member since Mar 2024
13008 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:10 pm to
quote:

I’m calling the entire species of fish stupid
Harsh
Posted by Krane
Member since Oct 2017
1471 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:13 pm to

So someone in a group asked me to tell them why I hate the ocean sunfish so much, and apparently it was ~too mean~ and was deleted. To perpetuate the truth and stand up for ethical journalism, I'm posting it here. [Rated NC-17 for language.]

Disclaimer, I care about marine life more than I care about anything else, for real. Except this big dumb idiot. And it's not like an ~ironic~ thing, I mean it IS hilarious to me and they ARE THE BIGGEST JOKE PLAYED ON EARTH but I seriously fricking hate them.

THE MOLA MOLA FISH (OR OCEAN SUNFISH)

They are the world's largest boney fish, weighing up to 5,000 pounds. And since they have very little girth, that just makes them these absolutely giant fricking dinner plates that God must have accidentally dropped while washing dishes one day and shrugged his shoulders at because no one could have imagined this would happen. AND WITH NO PURPOSE. EVERY POUND OF THAT IS A WASTED POUND AND EVERY FOOT OF IT (10 FT BY 14 FT) IS WASTED SPACE.

They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move. They have little control other than some minor wiggling. Some say they must just push water out of their mouths for direction (?????). They COULD use their back fin EXCEPT GUESS WHAT IT DOESNT frickING GROW. It just continually folds in on itself, so the freaking cells are being made, this piece of floating garbage just doesn't put them where they need to fricking go.

So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fricking sink. EXCEPT. EXCEPT. When they get stuck on top of the water! Which happens frequently! Because without the whole swim bladder thing, if the ocean pushes over THE THINNEST BUT LARGEST MOST TOPPLE-ABLE FISH ON THE PLANET, shite outta luck! There is no creature on this earth that needs a swim bladder more than this spit in the face of nature, AND YET. Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fricking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess. But good news, when they end up stuck like that, it gives birds a chance to land on their goddamn island of a body and eat the bugs and parasites out of its skin because it's basically a slowly migrating cesspool. Pros and cons.

"If they are so huge, they must at least be decent predators." No. No. The most dangerous thing about them is, as you may have guessed, their stupidity. They have caused the death of one person before. Because it jumped onto a boat. On a human. And in 2005 it decided to relive its mighty glory days and do it again, this time landing on a four-year-old boy. Luckily Byron sustained no injuries. Way to go, fish. Great job.

They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fricking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive. Dumb. See that ridiculous open mouth? (This is actually why this is my favorite picture of one, and I have had it saved to my phone for three years) "Oh no! What could have happened! How could this be!" Do not let that expression fool you, they just don't have the goddamn ability to close their mouths because their teeth are fused together, and ya know what, it is good it floats around with such a clueless expression on its face, because it is in fact clueless as all frick.

They do SOMETIMES get eaten though. BUT HARDLY. No animal truly uses them as a food source, but instead (which has lead us to said photo) will usually just maim the frick out of them for kicks. Seals have been seen playing with their fins like frisbees. Probably the most useful thing to ever come from them.

"Wow, you raise some good points here, this fish truly is proof that God has abandoned us." Yes, thank you. "But if they're so bad at literally everything, why haven't they gone extinct." Great question.

BECAUSE THIS THING IS SO WORTHLESS IT DOESNT REALIZE IT SHOULD NOT EXIST. IT IS SO UNAWARE OF LITERALLY frickING EVERYTHING THAT IT DOESNT REALIZE THAT IT'S DOING MAYBE THE WORST frickING JOB OF BEING A FISH, OR DEBATABLY THE WORST JOB OF BEING A CLUSTER OF CELLS THAN ANY OTHER CLUSTER OF CELLS. SO WHAT DOES IT DO? IT LAYS THE MOST EGGS OUT OF EVERYTHING. Besides some bugs, there are some ants and stuff that'll lay more. IT WILL LAY 300 MILLION EGGS AT ONE TIME. 300,000,000. IT SURVIVES BECAUSE IT WOULD BE STATISTICALLY IMPROBABLE, DARE I SAY IMPOSSIBLE, THAT THERE WOULDNT BE AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE 300,000,000 (that is EACH time they lay eggs) LEFT SURVIVING AT THE END OF THE DAY.

And this concludes why I hate the frick out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it.
Posted by LegendInMyMind
Member since Apr 2019
71762 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:27 pm to
quote:

So someone in a group asked me to tell them why I hate the ocean sunfish so much, and apparently it was ~too mean~ and was deleted. To perpetuate the truth and stand up for ethical journalism, I'm posting it here. [Rated NC-17 for language.]

I respect the hell out of this rant/post.
Posted by LSURussian
Member since Feb 2005
133623 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:31 pm to
I think I dated her in high school. She's shaved her hair off but I'd recognize that face and mouth anywhere...

Posted by thirsty thursday
Member since Jun 2024
25 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:36 pm to
so it’s the welfare queen of the ocean essentially.
Posted by billjamin
Houston
Member since Jun 2019
16695 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:37 pm to
Saw two of them when I was fishing in Boyton Beach a few years ago. Guide let us jump in and see them but didn’t want us to get too close. Was really cool to see them in the wild.
Posted by White Bear
AT WORK
Member since Jul 2014
17257 posts
Posted on 6/7/24 at 5:38 pm to
Fillet on that thing is shaped perfect for black iron skillet.
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