Beached sunfish a mystery

Three found around coast

THE beaching of multiple rare sunfish at separate corners of the state has experts intrigued by why the species is appearing on Tasmanian shores.

Beachgoers at Ralphs Bay, including Lindisfarne mum Triona O’Neill, got a shock last week when they saw a dead 196cm Hoodwinker sunfish had washed ashore.

The species – which can grow to 2300kg – is regarded as the largest bone fish in the world. Guests on a Tasmanian Walking Company tour last week also got a surprise to see a giant sunfish had become beached at Purdon Bay in the state’s North East.

“When I was walking towards it on the beach, I thought to myself ‘ why is there a huge rock there’,” tour guide Kyle Hodgkinson said.

“It’s definitely the strangest thing I’ve seen on a tour in a long time.”

A third sunfish beaching in Tasmania across the past week was also reported at Friendly Beaches on the East Coast.

Previously, the last reported sighting of the species was in 2015 on Maria Island, one year after a Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race crew reported colliding with a sunfish which damaged the vessel.

CSIRO Australian National Fish Collection researcher Helen O’Neill, who collected genetic samples of the Ralphs Bay beached sunfish, said although three reports of the species in Tasmania in one week was rare, she said it was “not completely surprising”.

“It’s a bit more unusual to see three but it might be because more people are taking an interest in them and more reports are coming in,” she said. “They can be expected to be seen in Tasmania at this time of year due to the pattern of the Eastern Australian Current, but three washing up is a bit more odd.”

Ms Helen O’Neill said the CSIRO planned to gather more samples of the two sunfish beached on the East Coast.

“Samples would be very useful to record and generate data because we might see a change in things over the years with water warming,” she said.

“We could also see more coming down and we might possibly find another species of sunfish.”