Residents shocked by mysterious discovery on Australian beach: 'Quite unusual'

Curious locals have flocked to the shores of an Australian beach after a mysterious, giant discovery was made on the sand, with residents describing the scenes as both “unbelievable” and “sad”.

Photos and videos taken at Petrel Cove in South Australia show what some thought was a “large rock” or oversized stone. It turns out to be the carcass of a giant sunfish, the South Australian Museum has confirmed to Yahoo News Australia.

This isn’t the first time Australians have been left stunned by the mysterious stranding of the giant disc-shaped creature. Last November, the bodies of two elusive sunfish were mysteriously found dead within days of each other along a 70km stretch of the Australian coastline, leaving one leading expert “speechless”.

Residents astonished by discovery of ‘giant’ sunfish

Local resident Dani Brown said she heard about the sunfish and went to Petrel Cove in Encounter Bay to see what was happening. “It was pretty cool to see, it’s the first time I’ve seen one,” she told Yahoo.

Sunfish can grow up to four metres wide. Locals say this one was about 2.7 metres long. A photo shows Brown huddled next to it to give a sense of scale.

The sunfish washed up at Petrel Cove in South Australia. Dani Brown is behind it, showing that she is much smaller than the fish. — The sunfish, measuring approximately 2.7 metres in diameter, on the beach with Dani Brown in the background.

The sunfish washed up at Petrel Cove in South Australia. Dani Brown stands behind it, showing that she is much smaller than the fish. — The sunfish, measuring approximately 2.7 metres in diameter, on the beach with Dani Brown in the background.

People reacting on social media, where photos were shared, thought it was “sad to see” while others were in awe of the sight of the enormous sea creature.

“Wow! That’s quite an unusual sighting,” said one. “Amazing,” said another, asking, “I wonder how prolific they are?” “Beautiful gentle creatures,” said a third.

The South Australian Museum has confirmed that the fish is “almost certainly a humpback sunfish, mola alexandrini” and while sunfish are found worldwide, this particular species “is the one most commonly found in South Australia”.

“It can be said that it is a humpback sunfish rather than one of the other two types (Mola tecta, the “The mollusk (Mola mola) and the mollusk (Mola mola) because of the prominent chin that you can see in the photo. The other two species do not have that,” they said.

The cause of the sunfish’s death is unknown.

It’s unclear how the sunfish died, but Brown suggests it’s been there since Sunday. Danish marine biologist Marianne Nyegaard previously told Yahoo that it’s nearly impossible to determine what’s killing them.

“Stranded sunfish generally appear to be healthy, with no obvious cause of death or impairment as to why they ended up on the beach,” she said.

She believes it is possible that these animals “fall to land” in the same way that humans “fall into the ocean.” However, scientists have not yet reached agreement on this.

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