Sunfish beaches on Cape beach

141221. Cape Town. SAUNDERS BEACH, BANTRY BAY (CAPE TOWN) " A 2-3 metres ocean sunfish beached at Saunders Beach in Bantry Bay (Cape Town). The City's Disaster Operations Centre noticed postings on Twitter from members of the public reporting that a baby whale beached in the area. The City dispatched its volunteers from Disaster Risk Management Centre, the Fire and Rescue Services, Law Enforcement and the Environmental Resources Management officials to the incident.

141221. Cape Town. SAUNDERS BEACH, BANTRY BAY (CAPE TOWN) " A 2-3 metres ocean sunfish beached at Saunders Beach in Bantry Bay (Cape Town). The City's Disaster Operations Centre noticed postings on Twitter from members of the public reporting that a baby whale beached in the area. The City dispatched its volunteers from Disaster Risk Management Centre, the Fire and Rescue Services, Law Enforcement and the Environmental Resources Management officials to the incident.

Published Dec 23, 2014

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Cape Town - A large sunfish, believed to be between 2m and 3m, was the subject of some feverish rescue efforts at Saunder’s Rocks near Bantry Bay on Monday.

City of Cape Town officials and beachgoers had to intervene several times to get the huge, sluggish fish back into the water.

“The city’s Disaster Operations Centre noticed postings on Twitter from members of the public reporting that a baby whale had beached in the area,” said spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

“The city dispatched its volunteers from Disaster Risk Management Centre, the Fire and Rescue Services, Law Enforcement and the Environmental Resources Management officials to the scene.”

The province’s Emergency Medical Services sent staff and the NSRI Bakoven station dispatched a rescue swimmer, while the Oceans and Coasts Branch of the Department of Environmental Affairs was also informed of the beaching.

At the scene, officials discovered the stricken animal was in fact an injured sunfish in distress. It was repeatedly battered against the rocks in a rising tide and it became stranded on the rocks.

People repeatedly pushed the sunfish off the rocks and out to sea, but it kept coming back.

The fish had multiple lacerations, and it was clear it was exhausted, Solomons-Johannes said, unable to make it out to sea under its own steam.

 

The marine scientists from Oceans and Coasts Branch of the Department of Environmental Affairs established that the sunfish was badly injured.

“At 3pm when high tide came, the sunfish once again beached itself on the rocks on a very high and dry area.” At this point, authorities initiated efforts to take the sunfish to vets at the Waterfront aquarium, Solomon-Johannes said.

A specialised team from the Solid Waste Management Department, set up by the city to deal with marine mammal rescues, dispatched a truck and a large tarpaulin.

But people standing on the rocks where the sunfish beached, pushed the fish back into the water where it was out of reach.

“It is believed the sunfish may beach itself again soon. City officials will, however, monitor the shoreline should it wash up again,” Solomons-Johannes said.

Anyone who spots the fish should notify the city’s Disaster Operations Centre on 080 911 4357, or the city’s Public Emergency Communications Centre on 107 (from a landline) or 021 480 7700 (from a cellphone).

According to Wikipedia, the ocean sunfish or common mola, Mola mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1 000kg (1 ton). The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.

Sunfish live on a diet of mainly jellyfish. Females can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate, up to 300 million at a time. Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators other than sea lions, killer whales, and sharks.

Cape Argus

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