PHOTO: Monstrous Sunfish Swimming In Laguna Beach Could Be World's Largest

Photo: Getty Images

A couple of paddlers encountered a massive sunfish just a few hundred yards off Laguna Beach's shoreline.

According to Mercury News, the fish could rival a Guinness World Record set back in 1996.

On Thursday, December 2, Rich German and Matt Wheaton came across a massive mola mola, also known as a sunfish, floating in the ocean.

“We were just paddling and all of a sudden we were like ‘Oh my god.’ That thing was massive,” said German, author of the book Blue Laguna and founder of the ocean conservation nonprofit Project O. “Most of my encounters are with dolphins and whales, but you never know what you’re going to see.”

Based on his 14-foot-stand-up paddleboard, German guessed the fish was close to 9 feet long.

He's hoping to consult with marine scientists to see if the fish they found is bigger than the 5,070-pound sunfish found in Japan that set a Guinness World Record in 1996.

Julianne Steers, a founding board member of the Beach Ecology Coalition, told Mercury News the sunfish was larger than most she's seen but it was tough to tell it was a record-holder.

“The only true way to know is if it was out and weighed and officially measured,” she said, noting that there are some records of sunfish reaching 13-foot long in Northern California. “But it does look much larger than what we typically see out here.”


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