They find a shocking three-ton giant sunfish

Giant 3-ton sunfish breaks world's heaviest record 0:47

(CNN) --

A giant sunfish has been discovered in Portugal's Azores archipelago and is believed to be the world's heaviest bony fish at a staggering 2,744 kilograms (3 tons).

According to the researchers, the animal was found dead, floating near the island of Faial, in the central North Atlantic, in December.

Although it was found only last year, details of the discovery were recently published in the Journal of Fish Biology.

The fish was dragged to shore, where it was weighed, measured and tissue samples were taken for DNA testing by researchers from the Naturalist Association of the Atlantic and the University of the Azores to obtain biometric and morphological data, both in Portugal. .

• They discover a huge tropical fish on a beach in the northern United States

There are about 29,000 species of osteichthyan fish, so named because they have a bony structure, making them the majority of the world's fish species.

The carcass weighs more than 400 kilograms than the previous world record holder for heaviest bony fish: a 2,300-kilogram female sunfish caught off Kamogawa, Japan, in 1996.

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The sunfish was weighed using a crane scale dynamometer, a device designed to weigh loads normally lifted by crane, after being raised above ground with a forklift.

The animal was 3.25 meters long and had a height of 3.59 meters.

Its maximum width, measured around its center, was 86 centimeters, according to the researchers.

The sex has not been determined.

José Nuno Gomes-Pereira, lead author of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher at the Atlantic Naturalist Association, told CNN on Tuesday that it was sad "to see the animal in this situation, since it must have been a king of the open ocean."

The "immensely large" sunfish was buried in the Faial Island Natural Park, it added.

The giant sunfish was carefully lifted with a forklift so it could be weighed and measured.

Credit: Atlantic Naturalist.ORG

Gomes-Pereira said the finding was a "sign that the oceans are still healthy enough to support the heaviest species out there, but a warning for more conservation in terms of pollution and boat traffic near the oceans." oceanic islands.

The giant sunfish (

) was first recognized as its own species in 2018 and is known to weigh twice as much as the second-heaviest fish species, the sunfish (

), according to a news release from the Association. of Naturalists of the Atlantic last Thursday.

• The enormous size of this sunfish made it impossible for biologists to weigh it

Gomes-Pereira said the dead sunfish had a "contusion," a bruise, on the front end, which may have caused the animal's death.

However, it is unknown if the impact was pre or post mortem.

The wound was impregnated with a red paint that is normally used to coat the keels of ships, adds the magazine article.

Since little data is available on large specimens such as sunfish, the researchers believe that further study is needed to understand their physiology and marine ecosystems in general.

The heaviest species of fish in the world is the whale shark (

), according to Guinness World Records, with the heaviest being found in Pakistan in 1949, weighing 21.5 metric tons.

Record number of fish