Good morning all, here we are at Tuesday and the first school day of term 3. Well it is time for this weeks creature and this week we have the Ocean Sunfish.
One of the ocean’s true oddities, this disc-shaped creature is one of the world’s largest bony fish, measuring up to 3.3 metres I diameter and weighing around 2,000kg bloody hell that’s big. That’s like the size of a car.
It’s bullet-like shape is the result of a tail fin that never grows, it folds in on itself instead and forms a rudder called a clavus. They are clumsy swimmers, waggling their large dorsal and anal fins to move and steering with their clavus.
Often seen sunbaking near the ocean’s surface, its oversized dorsal fin cuts through the water and is commonly mistaken for a shark.
This giant fish only has a taste for jellyfish, zooplankton and algae. They are harmless to people, but can be very curious and will often approach divers.
They often become so overrun with parasites that they jump yp yo 3m out of the ocean, landing with a slap on the surface, to try and get rid of them.
Jo-AnneRamplings 