Geelong Advertiser

SEA MONSTER WASHES UP

- JESSICA COATES

A RARE, giant sunfish has surprised holiday-makers after the fish washed ashore at Kennett River on

Saturday.

Tim Rothman and James Barham were visiting from Maryboroug­h for the weekend when they came across the enormous fish lying on the beach.

“We were walking along and saw this big lump on the sand,” Mr Rothman said.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before. It looked like an alien from a distance.”

The pair guessed the creature washed ashore with the high tide earlier that morning.

Sunfish generally survive off jellyfish and are typically found in tropical and temperate waters worldwide.

It’s understood their name comes from their habit of spending hours basking in the sun to increase body temperatur­e before diving back beneath the water.

Mr Rothman said in the decades he’d been visiting Kennett River, he’d never seen anything like it.

“I doubt I’ll see anything like it again,” he said.

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Tim Rothman and James Barham with giant sunfish at Kennett River.
Tim Rothman and James Barham with giant sunfish at Kennett River.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Australia