Spotting a monstrous creature in the ocean sounds like a horror movie come true. But that’s exactly what happened when a couple of Massachusetts residents went boating in Wareham’s Broad Cove.
The fishermen quickly turned on their camera to capture footage of the strange-looking sea life. In the video, they can be heard freaking out, with one of them saying:
“We are seeing some s–t we ain’t never seen before!”
Others couldn’t believe their eyes either.
The fishermen weren’t the only ones who spotted the giant creature swimming in the water. In fact, the Wareham Police Department began receiving phone calls from concerned residents about it.
Inside Edition’s coverage of the story included several of these phone calls. One man reported:
“There’s something out there swimming around. All I can get out of it is a fin or a flipper.”
There were also reports of it being a shark or an injured seal.
Turns out, there wasn’t anything actually mysterious about it.
So what was the bizarre-looking creature that had everyone freaked out? It was a sunfish. Yep, not Jaws or a frightening new discovery to base a film on.
Joe Yaiullo from the Long Island Aquarium told Inside Edition:
“They’re extremely docile fish. Sunfish eat jellyfish, smaller fish, things like that. They’re not a threat to humans at all.”
Sunfish might have a happy name, but their appearance could be a little intimidating though.
According to National Geographic, larger sunfish can weigh close to 5,000 pounds, and grow to 14 feet (vertically). The sunfish (or mola) is also the “heaviest” bony fish.
On their website, it says:
“Mola are found in temperate and tropical oceans around the world. They are frequently seen basking in the sun near the surface and are often mistaken for sharks when their huge dorsal fins emerge above the water.”
The sunfish seen swimming around Broad Cove wasn’t so gigantic.
Wareham’s Department of Natural Resources Director, Garry Buckminster, shared with TODAY that he believed the fish was smaller, approximately 150-250 pounds. However, even the sight of a “small” sunfish had residents reaching for their phones.
A Facebook post was put out to try and stop people from calling in about the fish.
The Wareham Department of Natural Resources wrote:
“We are aware of a sunfish in Broad Cove. We have checked on it, and it is doing normal sunfish activities. Its swimming. It is not stranded or suffering. The sunfish is FINE.”
They continued:
“Dont be jealous just because its not swimming weather anymore! PLEASE STOP CALLING THE POLICE DEPARTMENT ABOUT THIS SUNFISH!!”
SUNFISH IN BROAD COVE
10/12/2020 12:50PM
We are aware of a sunfish in Broad Cove. We have checked on it, and it is…
Posted by Wareham Department of Natural Resources on Monday, October 12, 2020
A lot of us have a fear of what’s lurking in the ocean. Perhaps it’s from watching too many scary movies, or hearing tales of monstrous sea creatures – there’s just something eerie about what could be underneath the water.
But in this case, all turned out just fine in Wareham, Massachusetts. While many residents had never seen a sunfish before – there wasn’t even anything weird about it being there. Buckminster told TODAY:
“Sunfish tend to be a normal visitor to our area during this time of year and we’re happy to report he exited our harbor inlet on its own.”
Be sure to watch Inside Edition’s video below to see more on this interesting story!
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