6,000-Lb. Giant Sunfish Discovered Near Portugal Is Heaviest Recorded Bony Fish in the World

It's official. Scientists have confirmed the discovery of the largest recorded bony fish in history.

When a giant sunfish (Mola alexandrini) surfaced last December near Faial Island in the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic, the dead animal weighed in at nearly 6,050 lbs. and measured more than 10 ft., according to a study recently published in the Journal of Fish Biology.

Researchers from the Atlantic Naturalist Association and the Azores University for biometrical and morphological data inspected the body of the fish using a tape measure to determine its length. But to find out its weight, they needed a crane scale and a forklift truck. The sex, though, was not determined.

The sunfish's head had a large contusion, which was likely caused by a heavy impact. The wound had remnants of red paint, which is usually used on the keel of boats.

"It is however not clear if the impact occurred pre or post-mortem, and therefore the cause of death remains uncertain," states the report.

The last specimen that still holds the Guinness World Record as the heaviest recorded bony fish is another Mola alexandrini caught off the coast of Kamogawa, Japan, in 1996 that weighed 5,070 lbs. The latest sunfish breaks the record by nearly a half ton.

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The giant sunfish, which was recognized as a species in 2018, is known to reach more than twice the maximum weight of the ocean sunfish (M. mola), for which it is commonly mistaken. Both are elusive species, making data about them scarce.

"These findings not only help us understand the role of invertebrate feeding species in marine ecosystems, but also show that the ocean is still healthy enough to support the world's largest animals," the study reads. "However, they raise concerns about the need for additional conservation measures regarding ocean pollution and boat traffic."