Yesterday we went for a walk to the hole in the rock to look at the rock pools. When we got there it smelt BAD. So we investigated and we found a washed up sunfish. It was really cool and really smelly.
I said to mum when we get home, I want to google sunfish to find out more about them. What I found out was that they are actually the heaviest known bony fish in the whole world. The average adult weighs 1000kgs! That's like 50 times bigger than me! Wow.
Sunfish also mainly eat jellyfish and don't have many natural predators except for sea lions, orcas and sharks who gobble them up.
My favourite part is their parrot mouth. Their teeth are fused into a beak like structure so it can break up harder food like crayfish. Cool aye.
You can find out more about sunfish here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish
or watch the first filming of a rare species here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuA2vXSCsPc
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Now here are some photos of the dead one we found and a live one.
A sunfish caught in 1910, with an estimated weight of 1600 kg (3500 lb)
A live sunfish in the water.
The dead one washed up on our beach.
How cool is its mouth!?
So you can see how big it is compared to me.
Thanks for reading my story. Love Finn and Brodie.
Wow!!!!!! That is one BIG fish! I can just imagine how amazing it was to actually see it. That would feel amazing! I will look at the link and read about the sunfish. See you next time.
ReplyDeleteAntonia Xxx