A 6,000-pound sunfish was discovered off the coast of Portugal last year – and scientists now say it is the heaviest bony fish in the world. Researchers with Atlantic Naturalist Association were studying stranded large animals in the Azores, a region of Portugal, when they found a giant sunfish dead and floating near Faial Island. The fish was weighed with a crane scale, by raising it with a forklift truck for a few minutes in order to allow the exact measurements to stabilize, the researchers write in their study, published in the Journal of Fish Biology last week. The scientists also measured its length with a tape measure and it came in at 10 feet long and nearly 6,050 pounds. The scientists also took a tissue sample to determine the DNA of the specimen, and determined it to be a giant sunfish – or Mola alexandrini. These sunfish are often confused with ocean sunfish, Mola mola, but their differences were recently clarified. Sunfish are often found in temperate and tropical seas.
