LARGE SUNFISH CAUGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20767, 9 January 1931, Page 10

LARGE SUNFISH CAUGHT

CAPTURE AT OMAHA BAY.

SPECIMEN WEIGHS HALF-A-TON. EXHIBIT FOR THE MUSEUM. An exceptionally large sunfish at T. Point, Omaha Bay, on Wednesday evening was brought to Auckland yesterday by tlie steamer Kawnu,' and was handed over to the authorities of the War Memorial Museum, who will make a plaster cast of the unusual catch for exhibition purposes. The sunfish weighed over half a ton. _ _ The sunfish was seem swimming in the bay late on Wednesday afternoon and was eventually hookpd by a hoy in a dinghy who used a large shark hook and gear. After taking the bait the fish, towed the boat about the bay for some time and when the fish ran aground in shallow water it was secured and hauled ashore by Mr. J. Torkington, a settler of the district, who forwarded ib to tho museum.

Tho sunfish, which is roughly oval in shape, measures seven feet from its mouth to the end of its squat tail, and approximately nine feet between tho tips of itst two fins, which are set above and below the tail. The body is not much more than 18 inches in thickness and whom swimming on edge, as it does, little can be seen beyond tho upper fin. Sunfish aro not uncommon in New Zealand waters and aro encountered on the coast between tho Hauraki Gulf and the Bay of Islands, and often further north. Tho specimen just caught is, however, unusually large. The sunfish has no means of defending itself against enemies,, but as it has practically no flesh it is not worried by sharks or other prey-

ing fish. The body is made up of two walls of hard cartilage. The fact. that, this mass of cartilage shrinks and hardens after death makes it practically impossible to cure the body for preservation purposes and for that reason the museum authorities are losing no time in making a plaster cast. The sunfish when weighed yesterday afternoon, almost 24 hours after its capture, registered lOcwt. 71b.