A giant sunfish believed to be the world’s heaviest bony fish has been discovered in the Azores archipelago, Portugal, weighing a whopping 2,744 kilograms or 3 tonnes.
Researchers say the animal was found dead, floating near Faial Island in the central North Atlantic in December.
Although found last year, details of the discovery have only recently been published in the Journal of Fish Biology.
The carcass is more than 400 kilograms (882 pounds) heavier than the previous world record holder for heaviest bony fish – a 2,300-kilogram (5,070-pound) female giant sunfish caught off Kamogawa in Japan in 1996.
The sunfish was weighed with a crane scale dynamometer – a device designed to weigh loads typically hoisted by a crane – after being raised above ground using a forklift truck.
They say that the finding was a “sign that the oceans are still healthy enough to sustain the heaviest species existing, but a warning for more conservation in terms of pollution and boat traffic near oceanic islands.”
Source: CNN
