Finding new fish weighs more than 2 tons in the past 130 years

This fish has the heaviest bone in the world. They can weigh up to two tons and are three meters long.

This new species of fish is named Hoodwinker (Mola tecta) sunfish, and has been found in cold waters of New Zealand, South Chile, South Africa and Australia's southeast coast.

Marianne Nyegaard, Murdoch University's principal author, said: "This new species has escaped the discovery of scientists by 'hiding' in the history of the messy classification of sunfish. Another reason is because they are very difficult to preserve and study, even for conservation in natural history museums . "

"That's why we named it Mola tecta (cheating sunfish), they come from Latin, meaning camouflage or hide. '

Sunfish are the heaviest bone fish in the world. They looked like a cross between a giant cake and a winged suitcase. They can weigh up to two tons and are three meters long.

Although appearing regularly on YouTube, sunfish are difficult to follow. Because they have solitary behavior and love places deep in the ocean - very difficult to access. The life of the sunfish alternates between diving deep into the sea like jellyfish and swimming on the surface for heating.

Their classification history is also a mess, the first explorers described a number of new species based on the single patterns they found while sailing. When adventurers arrived in Australia and New Zealand, they began to classify any species of sunfish they encountered, such as salmon (Mola mola), which made things more complicated.

The last time the researchers identified the new sunfish species 130 years ago, it was a fish in the southern ocean (Mola ramsayi).

While Nyegaard is studying the genetic characteristics of sunfish in the southern ocean, she found a genetic difference in the skin samples found by Australian and New Zealand fishermen.

New sunfish species (Photo: Internet).

" A Japanese research group first found genetic evidence of a sunfish species never known in Australian waters 10 years ago. But they continue to hide from the scientific community because of them. I don't know what they look like , " Nyegaard said in a press release.

The discovery of these mysterious genes began a four-year hide-and-seek game. In addition to genetic evidence, only clues come from a few photographs taken by fishermen.

While this fish sometimes appears in commercial fishing vessels, fishermen rarely catch these stealth giants on board due to their size.

"At first, when I was told to bring a crane to receive the specimen, I knew I was in a challenging but wonderful adventure," Nyegaard said.

The best way the team can do is to wait until a sunfish spills onto beaches in New Zealand and Australia. Meanwhile, the team began to classify them based on photos on social media to select unique physical characteristics.

When Nyegaard was studying a picture of a sunfish pulled onto the deck of a fishing boat, she found it had a different trait than other fish.

"I found the tail end of the fish very strange, I had never seen it before on any other sunfish. I wonder if this trait is a unique feature of the sunfish, Or is it unique to this fish, ' Nyegaard told ScienceAlert.

One day in May 2014, four sunfish were washed to the beach near Christchurch in New Zealand. When Nyegaard discovered, she immediately boarded a flight from Perth to see them.

" A local artist drove me down to the beach at midnight, and he showed the car lights on this fish," Nyegaard said.

Unlike the other two temples, this fish has a slender, slender body and no protruding snout. Between the upper and lower parts is a soft part of skin to connect between the two parts.

However, researchers have not yet finished resolving this issue. After traveling thousands of kilometers and relying on the help of fishermen, locals and museums, the team collected 27 sunfish specimens, ranging from 50 centimeters to nearly two and a half meters. .

To confirm that they have discovered a completely new species, researchers have compared through old texts since the 16th century. Old records include colorful descriptions of fairies. fish, sea monsters and some sunfish species do not exist. It clearly shows that Sunfish Hoodwinker has escaped the vision of taxonomists for nearly three centuries.

Now Hoodwinker's "tricks" have been revealed, in the next step Nyegaard and her team are learning more about their eating habits with the help of satellite tagging.

" It's obvious to know that the ocean still holds a lot of mysteries. We often think we know everything, but we still have a lot to clarify ," Nyegaard said.