The 2.7-ton sunfish that appeared off the coast of the Azores – an autonomous region in Portugal – was recognized in December last year as the world’s largest fish discovered so far. The scientific community confirmed this information last Friday by publishing an article in the “Journal of Fish Biology”.
The animal is 3.25 meters long and 3.6 meters high. The previous record for a sunfish was found in 1996 in Japan. The weight of this sample is 2.4 tons.
– We collected the data with scientific accuracy and presented our data to a scientific journal that verified it, including the calibration of the scale. Given the documentary evidence we have shown, they have accepted the article for publication. As such, it has been validated by researchers and the scientific journal – José Nuno Pereira, of Associação Naturalistas do Atlântico, explained in an interview with RTP.
Researchers believe that a sunfish found in the Azores died after colliding with a boat, leaving a bruise on its head, possibly from a blow.
Animal tests did not find any plastics or other harmful elements in the sunfish’s stomach.
