A GIGANTIC SUNFISH.
CAPTURED AT MOTUROA
About b o'clock, on Friday afternoon a larga fin was noticed in the wake of .tho dredge at Motprua harbour. It v.as at first thought that tho fin belonged to a large shark. Presently the fish began to frolic between the wharf end the,breakwater, and the officers of the Northern Company's steamer Rarawa then decided to make an attempt to catch it. Two beats were low;red, and the fish was attacked with boathooks and grapnel iron.?. Aftrr about twenty minutes struggle a boathoo.k was rammed through the -fish's gills, and then tho grapnel irons were made fast in its eyes. -The fish was secured to the breakwater, and it was then discovered to bo a large sunfish. It was towed round to the beach, where an attempt-vv-aj made to refloat it on Saturday morning in order that it- might be hoisted into a truck and brought into town, but the attempt was unsuccessful. Twenty mon hauling on the fish with ropes failed to shift it, so great was its weight and tho suction which its body applied to the beach.
Sunfish ai'e not infrequently found in tho Tasman.Sea, but very few arc as larpe as the one now at v Moturoa. If is Oft long, 6ft deep, and 2ft 6in wide. 1t.3 fins project"2ft 6in on each sid<?. The body is oblong, with a very largo head and a small tail. The mouth j?!-. small and round. On the back the frkin is dark brown, shading into lighter colom-s underneath. The' fish is estimated to fl-oigh two tons. An attempt will probably bo made to skin it in a few days
Sunfish seldom approach the coast. Tho.v r>ropa : y;atfi their .'pecios in the. opnn sea. They are believed to live at a great deoth" during the stormy srason. In calm bright weather they rise and rest cr play on the surface with their dorsal fin lrgh_ above the water. This has given rise to their popular namo of "Sunfish." There are two species, the rough or short sunfish, rind tho scarcer smooth or oblong sunfish. Tho one found at" Moturoa helongs to tho latter species.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19081208.2.68
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 8 December 1908, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
361A GIGANTIC SUNFISH. Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 8 December 1908, Page 8
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
NZME is the copyright owner for the Wanganui Chronicle. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of NZME. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in