2 March
2019
A rare
fish thought to live in the southern hemisphere has washed up in Santa Barbara,
California.
The
appearance of the seven-foot (2.1m) hoodwinker sunfish has baffled scientists,
who question how the fish made it so far from its home waters.
An intern
at the University of California spotted the animal at the Coal Oil Point
Natural Reserve.
It took
researchers several days to properly identify the creature, which was only
discovered in 2014.
Photos of
the giant fish first appeared on the Coal Oil Point Facebook page, and experts
from around the world weighed in to help identify the creature.
The
animal was named "hoodwinker" after its discovery after eluding
researchers for so many years.
Marianne
Nyegaard, a marine scientist who found and named the fish, told CNN she
"nearly fell out of my chair" when she saw the pictures of the
beached traveller.
"When
the clear pictures came through, I thought there was no doubt," she said.
"It's intriguing what made this fish cross the equator."
The
hoodwinker is larger and sleeker than other species of sunfish, weighing up to
two tonnes (2,000kg).
They
reportedly favour more temperate waters, such as off the coast of Chile or New
Zealand.
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