Beached sunfish dies

Sun fish in Toledo City. (CDN PHOTO/RENE ALIMA)

A rare ocean-going fish was washed ashore and died along the coast of Toledo City.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) technical staffer Darwin Igot identified the creature as a sunfish. It measures more than a meter in length and 80 centimeters wide.

Nides Canillo, a security guard at Carmen Copper Corp., saw the fish “swimming weakly” near the mining firm’s port and called the attention of the police.

“The security guard who called us along with other workers of the corporation tried to push it back into the ocean so it could swim better, but it was no use, because the waves would draw him to the shore and he was too weak,” PO3 Gerbel Geollina told Cebu Daily News.

Geollina told CDN that when the Toledo Police arrived, the fish was already out of the water and was covered by a straw sack.

According to Geollina, the fish had a “bruise” and its color was dominantly brown.

PO1 Rogelio Gutang said the area where the fish was found was not exactly known to be dangerous for sea creatures.

“It’s just a docking port,” Gutang said.

It was the first time a sun fish was spotted in Toledo City.

The BFAR has yet to release its findings on the cause of the creature’s death and its exact species. Ocean sunfish (Mola mola) have been occurring in Philippine shores. The ocean going fish rarely goes ashore. And when it does, it is usually distressed.

According to the Encyclopedia of Life, the Ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is the world’s heaviest bony fish.

The distinctive body shape is laterally compressed and appears bluntly terminated to the rear, as if the tail had been lopped off. Molas have a reduced skeleton, with fewer vertebrae than any other fish. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has not yet evaluated the status of the sunfish.