Rare tropical fish found washed up on Margate beach

A GIANT tropical fish was washed up on a Margate beach in last week's wild weather.

The discovery of the Ocean sunfish, measuring two feet, was made near the Nayland Rock around 3pm on Thursday.

The baby fish, thousands of miles from its natural home, was discovered alive but, by the time volunteers from the British Diver's Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) arrived, it had died.

BDMLR area co-ordinator Jon Brooks said the initial report was of a stranded porpoise but instead they found the fish. It is only the third sighting of a sunfish in Kent in a decade.

Mr Brooks said: "As we specialise in marine mammals, I don't know much about them. It is a quite interesting discovery and very different from what we normally deal with."

Andrew Horton, director of the British Marine Life Study Society, said: "It is certainly an extremely rare find on the North Sea coast. They are normally found deep in the open oceans such as the Pacific or the Atlantic, but they can sometimes find their way to places like Cornwall, where it is unusual but not as rare. The recent awful weather and rough sea conditions could explain how it could have ended up on the beach"

Bryony Chapman, marine life officer at the Kent Wildlife Trust said: "Kent Wildlife Trust is always very keen to receive reports of unusual sightings like this."

The fish was removed and disposed off by Thanet council workers.

In the past four weeks, a dead whale has also been stranded in Birchington and four seals have been rescued across Thanet.

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