800Lb. Sunfish Caught Off Cape Brett

Northern Advocate, 16 December 1938, Page 2

800 Lb. Sunfish Caught Off Cape Brett

Weighing 803 lbs, a freak sunfisb was landed off Cape Brett: last night, Mr W. R. Macpherson, of Portsmouth. England, fishing off the private launch MovcMro, noticed what appeared l to be a sunfisb. The fish was caught on big game tackle, and was brought to Russel!, the 15 mile journey taking 3i hours. First sunfish to be landed in Russell since 1921, the spesemen attracted much attention among local residents and the large crowd of visitors all last evening.

Bulky Fish,

With two huge side flappers and a tail flapper, the fiSh is considered nn absolute freak, its small mouth being nut of all proportion to the tremendous bulk.

The “sunfish", is the popular name applied lo.at least three different kinds of bony fish. The true sunfish is closely allied to the globe-fish, differing chiefly jn the short, compressed nature of its body, the extreme short, truncated tail, and the confluent ventral fins. The common sunfish may bo from seven to eight feet long, and is" bulky out of all proportion to its > length. It js widely distributed, and not infrequently occurs off the. southern coasts of England and around Ireland. Other Species. The second species is a beautiful form allied to the dolphin. It roaches a length of about four feet, and is bluish spotted with silver, and has scarlet fins. This species is covered with scales. It is edible, and is found in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Other names for this fish are opah and kingflsh. The third species includes three genera of small freshwater percoid fish found mainly in North American waters.