'Large, Strange Fish' Spotted in New Jersey Waters

A “strange, dead fish.”

That’s how Edward Bries’s uncle described a fish he had recently seen, just hours before they came across what turned out to be a mola mola on a crabbing trip in South Jersey recently, according to The Press of Atlantic City.

The fish, which was just under six feet long, missing some fins, and stuck in shallow waters, was a mola mola, or ocean sunfish, according to the report.

Bries and his uncle aren’t the only ones to look at a mola mola and consider it unusual.

Two years ago, nature.org wondered whether the mola mola should be considered the weirdest fish in the world.

Consider the facts, as presented in that blog:

• It is a sunfish, but it is the heaviest bony fish in the world;
• One female mola mola carries 300 million eggs;
• One baby mola mola in Monterey gained 822 pounds in 15 months;
• Its teeth are fused together inside a mouth that never closes;
• They float on the surface of the ocean so birds can peck parasites off them;
• If nothing else, they look like giant floating heads.

If it’s not the weirdest fish in the world, it certainly has to be considered a contender.

Mola mola enjoy warm waters, as they can be found in temperate and tropical water across the world, according to National Geographic. They are not a threat to humans.

Weirdest fish or not, seeing a mola mola is not unusual. In fact, one was seen in New Jersey just last summer.

The attached image is a file photo.