SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A 7-foot (215-centimeter) sea creature that washed ashore in Southern California has been identified as a hoodwinker sunfish, a recently identified rare species thought to live in the Southern Hemisphere.
The University of California, Santa Barbara, said an intern spotted the stranded fish last week at Sands Beach in the university’s Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve.
The intern alerted Jessica Nielsen, a conservation specialist at Coal Oil Point who initially thought it was a type of local sunfish and posted photos to the reserve’s Facebook page.
That drew the attention of Thomas Turner, an associate professor in UCSB’s ecology, evolution and marine biology department who examined the fish and posted photos to the iNaturalist online community.
That caught the eye of Marianne Nyegaard of Murdoch University in Australia, who identified the species in 2017 and formally named it Mola tecta but gave it the hoodwinker moniker because it had somehow escaped scientific recognition.
Revealed: Brit tourist, 19, subjected to sex attack in Majorca 'was gang
110,000 people to evacuate as floods swamp Russia, Kazakhstan
VOX POPULI: Message for this year’s rookie workers: You are an empty glass
Ohio judge to rule Monday on whether the state’s abortion ban stands
Russia's nuclear arsenal: How big is it, and who controls it?
US, Britain announce partnership on AI safety, testing
China balloon: US military recovers sensors from wreckage
Investigators return to Long Island home of Gilgo Beach serial killing suspect
VOX POPULI: Remembering the psychologist who changed the face of economics