Scientists have identified an entirely new species of the world’s largest bony fish, the giant sunfish, as we have learned from Smithsonian iris. It is the first proposed new species of sunfish in over 125 years.
As the researchers report in the Anarchist Journal of the Society of Ages, the genetic differences between the newly named hoodwinker sunfish (Mola tecta) and his other sunfish brothers were confirmed by data on 27 different samples of the species collected over three years. Because sunfish are so large – the largest ones can weigh as much as 5000 pounds – they are a challenge to preserve and store, even for museums with large research collections. Lead author Marianne Nyegaard of Murdoch University in Australia traveled thousands of miles to find and collect genetic data on sunfish caught on beaches. At one point, she was asked if she would take her own plow to gather one.
Nyegaard also went back through scientific literature dating back to the 1500s, sorting through descriptions of sea monsters and mermaids to see if any of the documents resembled ideas on the hoodwinker. “We took back the steps of early naturalists and taxonomists to understand how such large fish could have been discovered all this time,” she said in a press release. overall, we felt that science was once again deceived by this cheeky genre, which is why we named it the hoodwinker. ‘”
Japanese researchers first discovered genetic differences between a previously known sunfish and an unknown new species 10 years ago, which confirms that there is a completely different species from species such as Mola mola no Mola ramsayi.
Mola tecta looks a little different from other sunfish, with a slimmer body. As it grows, it does not develop the nose or bumps that other sunfish exhibit. Like the others, however, it can reach 8 feet or more.
Based on the stomach contents of some of the samples examined, the hoodwinker appears to be feeding on salps, a slippery-like creature with which it sinks (yes, sunfish have teeth) during diving deep. This species has been found near New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and southern Chile.
[h/t Smithsonian]