You might assume a big fish floating at the top of the water is dying, but not when it’s a sunfish.
The largest bony fish in the world, the species actually comes to the surface to sunbathe.
I was whale watching off Digby, N.S., this summer when I spotted what looked like a shark fin, but it turned out it was just a sunfish. So, I had to dig deeper.
Sunfish hold three world records for size, reproduction and growth rate. One sunfish caught in 1910 had an estimated weight of 1,600 kilograms.
As big as they are, ocean sunfish are docile and don’t pose a threat to humans. They’re just at the surface basking in the sun as a way to regulate their body temperature.
And who says only land dwellers can have fun in the sun?
Thumbnail courtesy of Five Island Boat Tours.