Sun Fish

[jimi]

Spotted a couple of these last week, blinking big bizarre things .. are they relatively common?

 

[FullCircle]

Spotted a couple of these last week, blinking big bizarre things .. are they relatively common?

Saw one off the Portuguese coast 2 week s ago, and then another in Biscay last week.

First time I had ever seen one. You are right, they are very odd looking creatures.

 

[jimi]

We spotted two when going west about 5 miles from Wolf rock and then 3 days later on the way back I spotted another in the same area

 

[ChrisE]

Spotted a couple of these last week, blinking big bizarre things .. are they relatively common?

Appaarently, they are quite common although I've only seen about a dozen in as many years. I've seen most of them in Christchurch Bay and south of The Needles, when out fishing. I've put that down to the fact that I tend go fishnig when it is calm (fish easier to see?) and sailing when it blows.

 

[graham]

Only seen one near Smalls Rocks .It was about 4 ft diameter.Apparently they can get really big.

 

[Evadne]

I've seen them out in the Atlantic, and once in the Irish Sea, I'm told they usually hunt at depth in the ocean, but come up to the surface from time to time.

 

[Dipper]

I think they are more commonly seen this time of year when the water warms up. I've only seen two. One was off St Alban's Head in September and all we saw of it was an enormous (about 2 ft) floppy dorsal fin sticking out of the water. We had to swerve to avoid it!

The other one was in Spain near Alicante. That was quite small (about 18" in diameter and was lying on its side on the surface. Apparently they do that so birds can peck the parasites off.

 

[FWB]

Saw this one last week in Falmouth Bay

 

[TiggerToo]

Spotted a couple of these last week, blinking big bizarre things .. are they relatively common?

we saw one just outside Plymouth breakwater on Friday afternoon at around 4pm. I had previosuly seen on in the water of Tresco.

Yes they are strange... I wonder whether they are good to eat!

 

[chart5011]

Saw one a few weeks ago south of Plymouth Breakwater and one last August in much the same area.

 

[Scillypete]

Spotted a couple of these last week, blinking big bizarre things .. are they relatively common?

Fairly common at this time of the year, usually see several a year here in Scilly.

 

[jimi]

Nice to see you Pete, hopefully manage a pint next time

 

[Dipper]

"I wonder whether they are good to eat!"

Apparently not which is lucky for them as they are so tame you can scoop them out of the water by hand (except for the ones weighing in at 2 tonnes!).