Sea creature that looks like ‘the invention of a mad scientist’ found on Oregon beach
An odd-looking sea creature washed ashore on an Oregon beach, according to an aquarium.
The “relatively small Mola mola” washed up less than a mile south of Sunset Beach approach, Seaside Aquarium said in a Sunday, Aug. 18, Facebook post.
“While this fish is only a little over five feet, Mola molas ... can get up to 10 feet and weigh as much as 5,000 pounds,” the aquarium said.
The mola is the heaviest bony fish on the globe, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
The massive fish is more commonly referred to as the ocean sunfish, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
With a “tiny mouth and big eyes,” the gray creature “looks like the invention of a mad scientist,” Monterey Bay Aquarium says.
They can be found worldwide throughout the ocean in “tropical and temperate seas,” according to the Australian Museum.
“These ocean giants roam the seas in search of their favorite food, jellyfish,” according to NOAA.
Their “truncated, bullet-like shape” is rooted in that its back fin “simply never grows,” according to National Geographic.
“Instead, it folds into itself as the enormous creature matures, creating a rounded rudder called a clavus,” National Geographic says.
Three different species
In the genus of mola, there are three distinct species of sunfish: Mola mola, Mola tecta and Mola alexandrini, according to Seaside Aquarium.
All three species can be found around the globe’s oceans, “except for the polar regions,” the aquarium said.
Months prior to this Mola mola washing ashore, a Mola tecta, or Hoodwinker Sunfish, was found north of the Gearhart beach approach, the aquarium said.
Since the discovery of the Mola tecta in 2017, only a few of the species have been sampled, so its washing ashore “caused quite a stir,” the aquarium said.
Despite stormy weather, people flocked to the beach to catch a glimpse of the “large strange looking fish,” McClatchy News reported in June.
Though the Mola tecta may look similar to the Mola mola, there are subtle differences, according to the aquarium.
“Visually the difference includes a T-shaped pattern on the clavus, the thick rudder-like structure at the rear of the fish also known as its steering fin on the Mola tecta,” the aquarium said.
Additionally, the Mola tecta species typically don’t reach the size of the Mola mola, “reaching only 7.9 feet and weighing 4,000 pounds,” according to the aquarium.
Sunset Beach is about a 90-mile drive northwest from Portland.
This story was originally published August 19, 2024 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Sea creature that looks like ‘the invention of a mad scientist’ found on Oregon beach."
