Marine Conservation: Norfolk sunfish find important for research - expert

 

By Kolawole Yemisi Victoria

The discovery of a dead sunfish on a Norfolk beach is "incredibly important" to scientists studying the biggest bony fish in the world and potential climate change links, an expert said.

The juvenile fish, measuring about 1.5m (5ft), appeared on North Beach in Great Yarmouth last weekend.

Adults can grow to 4m (13ft) and weigh up to two tonnes.

Dr Ben Garrod, from the University of East Anglia, said four had washed up in a year but the reason was unknown.

"Sunfish are one of the most weird but iconic fish in the sea," the professor of evolutionary biology and BBC science presenter said.

The species - Mola mola - is the largest bony fish and generally lives in temperate and tropical waters.

Katherine Hawkes photographed the sunfish on the Norfolk beach on New Year's Day and said at first she did not know what she was looking at.

"Then I realised I'd once seen a sunfish swimming but they are rare at this time of the year," she said.

The fish swim down to depths of between 50 and 200m (164ft and 656ft)

They feed mainly on jellyfish

Their name refers to their habit of lying at the sea surface on their side as if sunbathing

At about 1.5m from the top to bottom fin, Dr Garrod said this was "the largest we've seen... in the last few years".

"But it's still a baby compared to the size of the adults," he added.

This is the fourth he had been told had washed up on Norfolk's beaches in the past 12 months, three of which have been examined at the UEA.

"We don't know why they died and this is an ongoing research project, but it's incredibly important as we know so little about them," he said.

"I know they have washed up on the Norfolk coast - maybe once every 10 years - but to have four in the last 12 months is really interesting.

"We don't have the evidence to say it's related to climate change but no-one's denying the oceans are changing."