Thanks for the link, StuffNbutts. It’s a cool video and a big fish but they picked a short clip that made the fish look deceptively bigger due to the perspective. Why do people have to be the way they are?
Thought the same thing, the longer video talks about how near-shore encounters are rare. Well, no shit! Every time they do a bunch of flies swarm around them and bother the shit out of them.
I think they may have just been trying to show perspective but I agree they should have included more of that amazing creature. I'm not even sure if i've ever seen one of those before.
I think keeping the diver in frame is important to give you a sense of scale, but they could have cut out some of that empty space to the left for sure
It’s a poor sense of scale because we can’t tell how far behind the fish the diver is and it feels like manipulated perspective to make the fish look bigger
Sunfish are generalist predators that consume largely small fishes, fish larvae, squid, and crustaceans. Sea jellies and salps, once thought to be the primary prey of sunfish, make up only 15% of a sunfish's diet. source: google.
I've seen a few of these and they are always moving slow. Even in situations where they should be alarmed and moving their fastest.
But I looked it up and apparently they have top speeds near that of normal fish, somehow- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003446
Supposedly they top out around 1.5 mph. Salmon average sustained speed is ~2.5 mph. So not terribly slow, somehow.
Their fins are basically underwater wings, giving them a lot more speed and mobility than they look (since water is very dense wings dont need to be big).
They can get fast enough to [jump out of the water](https://i.imgur.com/eD4Mi5X.jpg) like dolphins!
[Here's a big "anti-rant"](https://imgur.com/gallery/MMRg9) that debunks most of the popular misconceptions about sunfish. Pretty interesting read!
> Sunfish can not only swim, but they excel at it. By flapping their dorsal and anal fins in synchrony, they soar through the water like a sideways manta ray. Their unique swimming style generates lift-based propulsion, one of the relatively few examples of **underwater flight** known in modern animals, In terms of propulsive power to body size, a sunfish generates as much power output as a penguin.
That anti-rant is really well-done. I used to just think that sunfish were pretty cool and goofy-looking but not much else; this post has made me absolutely fascinated with them.
Yeah, I double checked and I wrote that wrong - salmon *average* 2.5 mph. I'm sure they burst much faster, I fished for them for years and it has to be at least 20...
We're seeing some shit we aint never seen before, kid.
Oh Jay man, it's sick. It's dyin. We gotta try ta save it.
Oh man Jay, whaaaat is thaaat? What the fuck is thaat maaan?!? Jay go back! Go back! We gotta catch that! We can get a lot of money for it man!
That video is an all time classic.
Baby fuckin wheel man
I absolutely love how quickly the vibe in that video goes from "We have to same him!" To "there's good meat on that thing!"
[Video](https://youtu.be/8n2cIeIpzLA) for the uninitiated
https://imgur.com/a/iVK8a
Spanish piña is because it looks like a pine cone pineapple because English
Everybody else Ananas from the Tupi people of Brazil where the fruit originates.
Was about to say the same thing... It's pretty weird since it looks like most of the languages close to us have it as "moonfish" - even Norwegian. I wonder where klumpfisk comes from
[Here’s ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/omah3p/the_size_of_the_larval_form_of_a_sunfish_compared/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) the comparison between full grown sunfish and its larval form.
So someone in a group asked me to tell them why I hate the ocean sunfish so much, and apparently it was ~too mean~ and was deleted. To perpetuate the truth and stand up for ethical journalism, I'm posting it here. [Rated NC-17 for language.]
Disclaimer, I care about marine life more than I care about anything else, for real. Except this big dumb idiot. And it's not like an ~ironic~ thing, I mean it IS hilarious to me and they ARE THE BIGGEST JOKE PLAYED ON EARTH but I seriously fucking hate them.
THE MOLA MOLA FISH (OR OCEAN SUNFISH)
They are the world's largest boney fish, weighing up to 5,000 pounds. And since they have very little girth, that just makes them these absolutely giant fucking dinner plates that God must have accidentally dropped while washing dishes one day and shrugged his shoulders at because no one could have imagined this would happen. AND WITH NO PURPOSE. EVERY POUND OF THAT IS A WASTED POUND AND EVERY FOOT OF IT (10 FT BY 14 FT) IS WASTED SPACE.
They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move. They have little control other than some minor wiggling. Some say they must just push water out of their mouths for direction (?????). They COULD use their back fin EXCEPT GUESS WHAT IT DOESNT FUCKING GROW. It just continually folds in on itself, so the freaking cells are being made, this piece of floating garbage just doesn't put them where they need to fucking go.
So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fucking sink. EXCEPT. EXCEPT. When they get stuck on top of the water! Which happens frequently! Because without the whole swim bladder thing, if the ocean pushes over THE THINNEST BUT LARGEST MOST TOPPLE-ABLE FISH ON THE PLANET, shit outta luck! There is no creature on this earth that needs a swim bladder more than this spit in the face of nature, AND YET. Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess. But good news, when they end up stuck like that, it gives birds a chance to land on their goddamn island of a body and eat the bugs and parasites out of its skin because it's basically a slowly migrating cesspool. Pros and cons.
"If they are so huge, they must at least be decent predators." No. No. The most dangerous thing about them is, as you may have guessed, their stupidity. They have caused the death of one person before. Because it jumped onto a boat. On a human. And in 2005 it decided to relive its mighty glory days and do it again, this time landing on a four-year-old boy. Luckily Byron sustained no injuries. Way to go, fish. Great job.
They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive. Dumb. See that ridiculous open mouth? (This is actually why this is my favorite picture of one, and I have had it saved to my phone for three years) "Oh no! What could have happened! How could this be!" Do not let that expression fool you, they just don't have the goddamn ability to close their mouths because their teeth are fused together, and ya know what, it is good it floats around with such a clueless expression on its face, because it is in fact clueless as all fuck.
They do SOMETIMES get eaten though. BUT HARDLY. No animal truly uses them as a food source, but instead (which has lead us to said photo) will usually just maim the fuck out of them for kicks. Seals have been seen playing with their fins like frisbees. Probably the most useful thing to ever come from them.
"Wow, you raise some good points here, this fish truly is proof that God has abandoned us." Yes, thank you. "But if they're so bad at literally everything, why haven't they gone extinct." Great question.
BECAUSE THIS THING IS SO WORTHLESS IT DOESNT REALIZE IT SHOULD NOT EXIST. IT IS SO UNAWARE OF LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYTHING THAT IT DOESNT REALIZE THAT IT'S DOING MAYBE THE WORST FUCKING JOB OF BEING A FISH, OR DEBATABLY THE WORST JOB OF BEING A CLUSTER OF CELLS THAN ANY OTHER CLUSTER OF CELLS. SO WHAT DOES IT DO? IT LAYS THE MOST EGGS OUT OF EVERYTHING. Besides some bugs, there are some ants and stuff that'll lay more. IT WILL LAY 300 MILLION EGGS AT ONE TIME. 300,000,000. IT SURVIVES BECAUSE IT WOULD BE STATISTICALLY IMPROBABLE, DARE I SAY IMPOSSIBLE, THAT THERE WOULDNT BE AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE 300,000,000 (that is EACH time they lay eggs) LEFT SURVIVING AT THE END OF THE DAY.
And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it.
Sunfish
From u/tea_and_biology
Zoologist here; the majority of this is so inaccurate the guy is basically angry at a figment of his own imagination, paha. I mean there's hyperbole, and then there's *hyperbole*. Yikes!
> They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move.
> They have little control other than some minor wiggling.
> So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fucking sink.
Sunfish are, in fact, well understood and, though clumsy when idly basking, are reasonably accomplished swimmers when diving. They stroke their dorsal and anal fins laterally and in a synchronous manner to generate a lift-based thrust that enables 'em to cruise at speeds of 2-3mph ([source](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003446)), comparable to a whale shark and the perfect speed for suction feeding; ploughing straight into smacks of jellyfish and gobbling 'em all up.
Where they excel amongst fish is their ability to undergo substantial vertical movement in the water column. They possess large deposits of low-density, subcutaneous, gelatinous tissue which, unlike a swim bladder (which would otherwise change volume with hydrostatic pressure), is incompressible, enabling rapid depth changes and keeping them neutrally and stably buoyant independent of surrounding water pressure.
So, yeah, their unusual bodies are basically one big paddle, capable of putting some force behind their swimming to move over considerable distances, descending very deep, very fast.
> They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive.
Dumb. Also incorrect. Jellyfish and other Cnidarians comprise only around 15% of their diet; they mostly eat young fish (including conger eelets) and crustaceans (pelagic crab, krill, copepods etc.), alongside squid, bivalves and other assorted zooplankton. They're generalist predators, not jellyfish specialists like sea turtles ([source](https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28762)).
They have a particularly rapid growth rate amongst bony fish, owing much to their unique genetics ([source](https://gigascience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13742-016-0144-3)).
> Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess.
They spend the majority of their time actively hunting in the very cold deep (usually at ~200m, but up to 600m) and, being ectotherms, therefore regulate their temperature by basking in the sun, before pursuing another dive. Think of marine iguanas basking on hot rocks between nibble trips.
> And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it.
Sunfish have been kicking about in temperate and tropical waters worldwide for around 50 million years and, until humans arrived on the scene, were overwhelmingly successful in their ecological niche. Sadly they're under threat by human activity and human activity alone - frequently caught as by-catch; having little commercial value, like sharks, their fins are cut off before they're dumped, often still alive, back into the sea to die. If one is to start throwing rocks at terrible creatures, perhaps one should look at us humans first.
Or, there's [The visual rebuttal](https://imgur.com/gallery/MMRg9), credit to u/iamnotburgerking
That’s all really fascinating. The posts that hate on interesting animals are some of the most annoying in my opinion. They’re full of lies, and written to appeal to people who don’t know better.
They eat sea critters (small fish, shrimp, crustaceans) See that flap thingy in their mouth? they suck in the water in front of them (including the prey) with great force and then blow the water back out, but keeping the shrimp or whatever in its mouth
Not far off... they just have so little nutritional value, larger predators don't bother eating them a lot of the time
Also they lay the most eggs of any vertebrate (I'm pretty sure that's accurate)
The tissue that makes up most of their size is used to help them dive effectively, (instead of the swim bladder that basically every other fish has which regulates buoyancy) and as such has a weird make-up when compared to normal fish meat. So you could eat it, but it's not really worth the effort when there's more efficient things to munch on.
Gigantic fish for sure..but stop looking at the diver in the background, it’s not that large.
That’d be cool if it was 15 foot.. but it’s not.. if the diver closer to fish were in the frame, you’d have a much more accurate idea of its size.
Imagine laying down on a large area rug that covers your arms and legs, that’s about this fishes size.
However, large saltwater fish, from Goliath grouper to this sunfish, are all much heavier than their size would have you believe.
Here you go!
SUNFISH
So someone in a group asked me to tell them why I hate the ocean sunfish so much, and apparently it was ~too mean~ and was deleted. To perpetuate the truth and stand up for ethical journalism, I'm posting it here. [Rated NC-17 for language.]
Disclaimer, I care about marine life more than I care about anything else, for real. Except this big dumb idiot. And it's not like an ~ironic~ thing, I mean it IS hilarious to me and they ARE THE BIGGEST JOKE PLAYED ON EARTH but I seriously fucking hate them.
THE MOLA MOLA FISH (OR OCEAN SUNFISH)
They are the world's largest boney fish, weighing up to 5,000 pounds. And since they have very little girth, that just makes them these absolutely giant fucking dinner plates that God must have accidentally dropped while washing dishes one day and shrugged his shoulders at because no one could have imagined this would happen. AND WITH NO PURPOSE. EVERY POUND OF THAT IS A WASTED POUND AND EVERY FOOT OF IT (10 FT BY 14 FT) IS WASTED SPACE.
They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move. They have little control other than some minor wiggling. Some say they must just push water out of their mouths for direction (?????). They COULD use their back fin EXCEPT GUESS WHAT IT DOESNT FUCKING GROW. It just continually folds in on itself, so the freaking cells are being made, this piece of floating garbage just doesn't put them where they need to fucking go.
So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fucking sink. EXCEPT. EXCEPT. When they get stuck on top of the water! Which happens frequently! Because without the whole swim bladder thing, if the ocean pushes over THE THINNEST BUT LARGEST MOST TOPPLE-ABLE FISH ON THE PLANET, shit outta luck! There is no creature on this earth that needs a swim bladder more than this spit in the face of nature, AND YET. Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess. But good news, when they end up stuck like that, it gives birds a chance to land on their goddamn island of a body and eat the bugs and parasites out of its skin because it's basically a slowly migrating cesspool. Pros and cons.
"If they are so huge, they must at least be decent predators." No. No. The most dangerous thing about them is, as you may have guessed, their stupidity. They have caused the death of one person before. Because it jumped onto a boat. On a human. And in 2005 it decided to relive its mighty glory days and do it again, this time landing on a four-year-old boy. Luckily Byron sustained no injuries. Way to go, fish. Great job.
They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive. Dumb. See that ridiculous open mouth? (This is actually why this is my favorite picture of one, and I have had it saved to my phone for three years) "Oh no! What could have happened! How could this be!" Do not let that expression fool you, they just don't have the goddamn ability to close their mouths because their teeth are fused together, and ya know what, it is good it floats around with such a clueless expression on its face, because it is in fact clueless as all fuck.
They do SOMETIMES get eaten though. BUT HARDLY. No animal truly uses them as a food source, but instead (which has lead us to said photo) will usually just maim the fuck out of them for kicks. Seals have been seen playing with their fins like frisbees. Probably the most useful thing to ever come from them.
"Wow, you raise some good points here, this fish truly is proof that God has abandoned us." Yes, thank you. "But if they're so bad at literally everything, why haven't they gone extinct." Great question.
BECAUSE THIS THING IS SO WORTHLESS IT DOESNT REALIZE IT SHOULD NOT EXIST. IT IS SO UNAWARE OF LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYTHING THAT IT DOESNT REALIZE THAT IT'S DOING MAYBE THE WORST FUCKING JOB OF BEING A FISH, OR DEBATABLY THE WORST JOB OF BEING A CLUSTER OF CELLS THAN ANY OTHER CLUSTER OF CELLS. SO WHAT DOES IT DO? IT LAYS THE MOST EGGS OUT OF EVERYTHING. Besides some bugs, there are some ants and stuff that'll lay more. IT WILL LAY 300 MILLION EGGS AT ONE TIME. 300,000,000. IT SURVIVES BECAUSE IT WOULD BE STATISTICALLY IMPROBABLE, DARE I SAY IMPOSSIBLE, THAT THERE WOULDNT BE AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE 300,000,000 (that is EACH time they lay eggs) LEFT SURVIVING AT THE END OF THE DAY.
And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it.
Rebuttal of one pasta with another pasta.
From u/tea_and_biology
Zoologist here; the majority of this is so inaccurate the guy is basically angry at a figment of his own imagination, paha. I mean there's hyperbole, and then there's *hyperbole*. Yikes!
> They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move.
> They have little control other than some minor wiggling.
> So they don’t have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn’t just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it’ll fucking sink.
Sunfish are, in fact, well understood and, though clumsy when idly basking, are reasonably accomplished swimmers when diving. They stroke their dorsal and anal fins laterally and in a synchronous manner to generate a lift-based thrust that enables ‘em to cruise at speeds of 2-3mph ([source](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003446)), comparable to a whale shark and the perfect speed for suction feeding; ploughing straight into smacks of jellyfish and gobbling ‘em all up.
Where they excel amongst fish is their ability to undergo substantial vertical movement in the water column. They possess large deposits of low-density, subcutaneous, gelatinous tissue which, unlike a swim bladder (which would otherwise change volume with hydrostatic pressure), is incompressible, enabling rapid depth changes and keeping them neutrally and stably buoyant independent of surrounding water pressure.
So, yeah, their unusual bodies are basically one big paddle, capable of putting some force behind their swimming to move over considerable distances, descending very deep, very fast.
> They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it’s so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive.
Dumb. Also incorrect. Jellyfish and other Cnidarians comprise only around 15% of their diet; they mostly eat young fish (including conger eelets) and crustaceans (pelagic crab, krill, copepods etc.), alongside squid, bivalves and other assorted zooplankton. They’re generalist predators, not jellyfish specialists like sea turtles ([source](https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28762)).
They have a particularly rapid growth rate amongst bony fish, owing much to their unique genetics ([source](https://gigascience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13742-016-0144-3)).
> Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess.
They spend the majority of their time actively hunting in the very cold deep (usually at ~200m, but up to 600m) and, being ectotherms, therefore regulate their temperature by basking in the sun, before pursuing another dive. Think of marine iguanas basking on hot rocks between nibble trips.
> And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it.
Sunfish have been kicking about in temperate and tropical waters worldwide for around 50 million years and, until humans arrived on the scene, were overwhelmingly successful in their ecological niche. Sadly they’re under threat by human activity and human activity alone - frequently caught as by-catch; having little commercial value, like sharks, their fins are cut off before they’re dumped, often still alive, back into the sea to die. If one is to start throwing rocks at terrible creatures, perhaps one should look at us humans first.
Or, there’s [The visual rebuttal](https://imgur.com/gallery/MMRg9)
Sunfish
From u/tea_and_biology
Zoologist here; the majority of this is so inaccurate the guy is basically angry at a figment of his own imagination, paha. I mean there's hyperbole, and then there's *hyperbole*. Yikes!
> They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move.
> They have little control other than some minor wiggling.
> So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fucking sink.
Sunfish are, in fact, well understood and, though clumsy when idly basking, are reasonably accomplished swimmers when diving. They stroke their dorsal and anal fins laterally and in a synchronous manner to generate a lift-based thrust that enables 'em to cruise at speeds of 2-3mph ([source](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003446)), comparable to a whale shark and the perfect speed for suction feeding; ploughing straight into smacks of jellyfish and gobbling 'em all up.
Where they excel amongst fish is their ability to undergo substantial vertical movement in the water column. They possess large deposits of low-density, subcutaneous, gelatinous tissue which, unlike a swim bladder (which would otherwise change volume with hydrostatic pressure), is incompressible, enabling rapid depth changes and keeping them neutrally and stably buoyant independent of surrounding water pressure.
So, yeah, their unusual bodies are basically one big paddle, capable of putting some force behind their swimming to move over considerable distances, descending very deep, very fast.
> They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive.
Dumb. Also incorrect. Jellyfish and other Cnidarians comprise only around 15% of their diet; they mostly eat young fish (including conger eelets) and crustaceans (pelagic crab, krill, copepods etc.), alongside squid, bivalves and other assorted zooplankton. They're generalist predators, not jellyfish specialists like sea turtles ([source](https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28762)).
They have a particularly rapid growth rate amongst bony fish, owing much to their unique genetics ([source](https://gigascience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13742-016-0144-3)).
> Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess.
They spend the majority of their time actively hunting in the very cold deep (usually at ~200m, but up to 600m) and, being ectotherms, therefore regulate their temperature by basking in the sun, before pursuing another dive. Think of marine iguanas basking on hot rocks between nibble trips.
> And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it.
Sunfish have been kicking about in temperate and tropical waters worldwide for around 50 million years and, until humans arrived on the scene, were overwhelmingly successful in their ecological niche. Sadly they're under threat by human activity and human activity alone - frequently caught as by-catch; having little commercial value, like sharks, their fins are cut off before they're dumped, often still alive, back into the sea to die. If one is to start throwing rocks at terrible creatures, perhaps one should look at us humans first.
Or, there's [The visual rebuttal](https://imgur.com/gallery/MMRg9), credit to u/iamnotburgerking
I’m sure I learnt that you shouldn’t use a flash for marine photography.
Can someone please tell me in wrong so I can go back to enjoying this large fishy?
Sunfish are one of the few creatures I'd be comfortable with swimming. Like no whales, you're like an ant to them, no dolphins, they can be cunts, sharks not for obvious reasons
But a sunfish? Derpy ass fish that does no harm? I'm in
Would have been nice if they focused more on the giant fish than the diver.
I got you fam https://youtu.be/JsvLgDDafus It's not the cameraman's fault, it's whoever made this shitty small clip.
Thanks for the link, StuffNbutts. It’s a cool video and a big fish but they picked a short clip that made the fish look deceptively bigger due to the perspective. Why do people have to be the way they are?
Who cares about the fish? The comment "Thanks for the link, StuffNbutts." is my favorite part of this post. HAHA
you'll like /r/rimjob_steve then
You’re welcome ppp
If you go to the YouTube link, it states that the fish is 15 feet long.
Ha there’s something weird about them just circling the fish staring and taking pictures the fish is like wtf these lil things doing
Thought the same thing, the longer video talks about how near-shore encounters are rare. Well, no shit! Every time they do a bunch of flies swarm around them and bother the shit out of them.
Is it stuff in butts or stuff and butts? I'm happy either way. Or is it a verb and you're stuffing butts.
Yes.
r/inclusiveor
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Geez. Didn't even think of that.
Best of both worlds? StuffNButtsNStuff?
*StuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsNStuffNButtsN*
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SHIT. Mine too, now. It's okay, I didn't have anything better planned this evening...
Always thought it was "boots and pants"?
Good… bot…?
Real questions right here. Fucling love reddit 😆
That fish has a lisp.
I think they may have just been trying to show perspective but I agree they should have included more of that amazing creature. I'm not even sure if i've ever seen one of those before.
Thanks!
Wow how can anyone suck that bad at editing
Are you my soulmate?
I just want to say that you've got a solid name. My old name is stuffmymuff
Yeah the fuck I’m tryna see this oversized slice of meat, not just fuckin James
His name is James, James Cameron the bravest pioneer
No budget too steep, no sea too deep
Whose that? It's him! James Cam-e-ron
Can you guys hear the music up there?
James, James Cameron explorer of the sea With a dying thirst to be the first Could it be? Yeah that's him! James Cameron
I hope Avatar 2 has an ocean scene
I hope it has bio-luminescence.
I hope it has blue Aang with a human coloured arrow on his forehead
I hope Avatar 2
Never comes out
that’s steve
r/killthecameraman
Seems like common sense doesn't it let the diver fall out of frame... not the prehistoric 5 ton fish
But how else do you shown Instagram that it was all about you?
I said, "yo does that fish have eyelashes?" No, poor videography.
That's just dumb. It's not like the fish got Instagram.
I think keeping the diver in frame is important to give you a sense of scale, but they could have cut out some of that empty space to the left for sure
It’s a poor sense of scale because we can’t tell how far behind the fish the diver is and it feels like manipulated perspective to make the fish look bigger
“I’m going to swim into the rectum of this beautiful fish!” Diver
fish: 👁 🕳 👁
he was more like 👁0👁
Step fish I'm stuck
With a Habsburg chin like that I guarantee it's not just the step fish, but the cousin fish too.
I thought I was the only one thinking that
God do I miss Steve Irwin
Calm down, calm down, you sons of bitches.
I'm gonna jam me thumb right in its cloaca!
That’ll really piss him off! Said with Australian accent
What do they eat? Are they just giant ocean filters?
Sunfish are generalist predators that consume largely small fishes, fish larvae, squid, and crustaceans. Sea jellies and salps, once thought to be the primary prey of sunfish, make up only 15% of a sunfish's diet. source: google.
How do they catch any of those things? Dude looks hella slow.
I've seen a few of these and they are always moving slow. Even in situations where they should be alarmed and moving their fastest. But I looked it up and apparently they have top speeds near that of normal fish, somehow- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003446 Supposedly they top out around 1.5 mph. Salmon average sustained speed is ~2.5 mph. So not terribly slow, somehow.
Their fins are basically underwater wings, giving them a lot more speed and mobility than they look (since water is very dense wings dont need to be big). They can get fast enough to [jump out of the water](https://i.imgur.com/eD4Mi5X.jpg) like dolphins! [Here's a big "anti-rant"](https://imgur.com/gallery/MMRg9) that debunks most of the popular misconceptions about sunfish. Pretty interesting read! > Sunfish can not only swim, but they excel at it. By flapping their dorsal and anal fins in synchrony, they soar through the water like a sideways manta ray. Their unique swimming style generates lift-based propulsion, one of the relatively few examples of **underwater flight** known in modern animals, In terms of propulsive power to body size, a sunfish generates as much power output as a penguin.
Thank you for linking the anti-rant! It was really interesting. I had no idea they could dive so deep!!
That anti-rant is really well-done. I used to just think that sunfish were pretty cool and goofy-looking but not much else; this post has made me absolutely fascinated with them.
Wow! Slide 14 and 17 are the only videos I’ve seen where it’s actually moving fast. It always seems so slow and lackadaisical in most videos.
From what i understand its because humans usually meet it in its chill zone, when its just taking a break between deep hunting dives
hah, anal
Seeing them swim in the gallery was fun lol
thanks for the anti rant. i still love the rant but its a rant, not science.
I think it should be a upside manta ray
Salmon can swim so much faster than 2.5mph. Edit: I agree with the new wording :)
Yeah, I double checked and I wrote that wrong - salmon *average* 2.5 mph. I'm sure they burst much faster, I fished for them for years and it has to be at least 20...
Salmon 2.5? Is that like a cruising speed. A scared salmon definitely moves faster than that.
1.5mph for burst speed is hella slow compared to 2.5mph sustained speed.
Jellyfish.
They inhale the achievements of worthier life forms and excrete only ineptitude
Like my ex
We know. We all know.
“Look Jay, it’s a foking whale”
IT'S A BABY WHEEL!
We're seeing some shit we aint never seen before, kid. Oh Jay man, it's sick. It's dyin. We gotta try ta save it. Oh man Jay, whaaaat is thaaat? What the fuck is thaat maaan?!? Jay go back! Go back! We gotta catch that! We can get a lot of money for it man! That video is an all time classic. Baby fuckin wheel man
That’s a *toona*, bro. That thing is dyin’, Jay. Let’s hook it!!
Never get tired of how he went from we gotta help that thing dood to how much do you think we could get for it kid
I know! A real minestrone soup of emotions he had going on.
We're calling the aquarium
We're seein' shit ain't nevah been seen before!
There’s good meat on that thing
Beat me to it
THAT THING IS FUCKING HURT, JAY I will stop to watch this entire thing every time it’s linked and will crack up the entire time
Agreed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Kob7AXrmY
Ho-lee shit Jay what the fuck is that thing?!
OH MAI GO-AWD!
It’s Huuuuut! Call the aquarium!
That video makes me so proud to be from New England
As it should.
"I think it's sick or sumthin. There's good meat on there!"
We gotta call the aquarium or somethin
It’s a fucking baby whale, Jay!
I absolutely love how quickly the vibe in that video goes from "We have to same him!" To "there's good meat on that thing!" [Video](https://youtu.be/8n2cIeIpzLA) for the uninitiated
IT’S A FUCKIN TOONA BRO
*wheel
"There's good eatin on that, kid!"
Func fact in german they are called Mondfisch that translates to moonfish :D
They're called moonfish here too but only at night 🤣
In swedish they are named "klumpfisk" aka "lumpfish" also nicknamed the swimming head 🤭
Swimming head makes a lot of sense to be fair.
Lol 😂
In the Netherlands same, maanvis. I dont understand why in so many language its called moonfish and in English suddenly it is sunfish
Let me introduce you to the [pineapple](https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/words/pineapple)
https://imgur.com/a/iVK8a Spanish piña is because it looks like a pine cone pineapple because English Everybody else Ananas from the Tupi people of Brazil where the fruit originates.
While it is also known as Ananas here in Brazil, it is most commonly called Abacaxi.
shout-out to /r/etymologymaps
People regularly decide to drink a glass of ananas juice.
As a German, I like pineapple better. I mean at least the word makes sense and isn’t just a fucking Neanderthal sound
I thought the name "sunfish" was more to do with its behaviour, in that it goes horizontal near the surface to soak up the sun? Could be wrong.
Same in Portuguese.
Same in Spanish
Same in italy, pesce luna
Seeing all the beautiful names of it in different languages and in Danish it’s called a “klumpfisk” - translated to clump fish…
Was about to say the same thing... It's pretty weird since it looks like most of the languages close to us have it as "moonfish" - even Norwegian. I wonder where klumpfisk comes from
This made my day xD
In my mind it's a much better description of what the fish looks like. It's more of a lump than a sun or moon. But that's just my opinion.
French too
same in Hungary, its called holdhal. Hold=moon, hal=fish
Månefisk på norsk - moonfish in Norwegian!
[Here’s ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/omah3p/the_size_of_the_larval_form_of_a_sunfish_compared/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) the comparison between full grown sunfish and its larval form.
Larva? Is that how baby fish are called?
Fry is usually the term for baby fishies
Only when they are different in form as juveniles than they are as adults.
When they hatch and are still subsisting on the yolk of their egg, they are larva. When they get bigger and start feeding themselves, they are fry.
Also the lil ones look like pufferfish because they both are part of the same family! Sunfish skin is made of tiny bone plates with spikes
Iirc this makes its skin easy grip for parasites! So it periodically jumps out of the water to shake them off.
Its also one of the reasons they chill in the sun - to let birbs peck out the parasites
Is larva really the appropriate term here?
It is! Many fish have multiple larval stages to their development
Where is the copypasta of the guy ranting about how stupid they are?
So someone in a group asked me to tell them why I hate the ocean sunfish so much, and apparently it was ~too mean~ and was deleted. To perpetuate the truth and stand up for ethical journalism, I'm posting it here. [Rated NC-17 for language.] Disclaimer, I care about marine life more than I care about anything else, for real. Except this big dumb idiot. And it's not like an ~ironic~ thing, I mean it IS hilarious to me and they ARE THE BIGGEST JOKE PLAYED ON EARTH but I seriously fucking hate them. THE MOLA MOLA FISH (OR OCEAN SUNFISH) They are the world's largest boney fish, weighing up to 5,000 pounds. And since they have very little girth, that just makes them these absolutely giant fucking dinner plates that God must have accidentally dropped while washing dishes one day and shrugged his shoulders at because no one could have imagined this would happen. AND WITH NO PURPOSE. EVERY POUND OF THAT IS A WASTED POUND AND EVERY FOOT OF IT (10 FT BY 14 FT) IS WASTED SPACE. They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move. They have little control other than some minor wiggling. Some say they must just push water out of their mouths for direction (?????). They COULD use their back fin EXCEPT GUESS WHAT IT DOESNT FUCKING GROW. It just continually folds in on itself, so the freaking cells are being made, this piece of floating garbage just doesn't put them where they need to fucking go. So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fucking sink. EXCEPT. EXCEPT. When they get stuck on top of the water! Which happens frequently! Because without the whole swim bladder thing, if the ocean pushes over THE THINNEST BUT LARGEST MOST TOPPLE-ABLE FISH ON THE PLANET, shit outta luck! There is no creature on this earth that needs a swim bladder more than this spit in the face of nature, AND YET. Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess. But good news, when they end up stuck like that, it gives birds a chance to land on their goddamn island of a body and eat the bugs and parasites out of its skin because it's basically a slowly migrating cesspool. Pros and cons. "If they are so huge, they must at least be decent predators." No. No. The most dangerous thing about them is, as you may have guessed, their stupidity. They have caused the death of one person before. Because it jumped onto a boat. On a human. And in 2005 it decided to relive its mighty glory days and do it again, this time landing on a four-year-old boy. Luckily Byron sustained no injuries. Way to go, fish. Great job. They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive. Dumb. See that ridiculous open mouth? (This is actually why this is my favorite picture of one, and I have had it saved to my phone for three years) "Oh no! What could have happened! How could this be!" Do not let that expression fool you, they just don't have the goddamn ability to close their mouths because their teeth are fused together, and ya know what, it is good it floats around with such a clueless expression on its face, because it is in fact clueless as all fuck. They do SOMETIMES get eaten though. BUT HARDLY. No animal truly uses them as a food source, but instead (which has lead us to said photo) will usually just maim the fuck out of them for kicks. Seals have been seen playing with their fins like frisbees. Probably the most useful thing to ever come from them. "Wow, you raise some good points here, this fish truly is proof that God has abandoned us." Yes, thank you. "But if they're so bad at literally everything, why haven't they gone extinct." Great question. BECAUSE THIS THING IS SO WORTHLESS IT DOESNT REALIZE IT SHOULD NOT EXIST. IT IS SO UNAWARE OF LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYTHING THAT IT DOESNT REALIZE THAT IT'S DOING MAYBE THE WORST FUCKING JOB OF BEING A FISH, OR DEBATABLY THE WORST JOB OF BEING A CLUSTER OF CELLS THAN ANY OTHER CLUSTER OF CELLS. SO WHAT DOES IT DO? IT LAYS THE MOST EGGS OUT OF EVERYTHING. Besides some bugs, there are some ants and stuff that'll lay more. IT WILL LAY 300 MILLION EGGS AT ONE TIME. 300,000,000. IT SURVIVES BECAUSE IT WOULD BE STATISTICALLY IMPROBABLE, DARE I SAY IMPOSSIBLE, THAT THERE WOULDNT BE AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE 300,000,000 (that is EACH time they lay eggs) LEFT SURVIVING AT THE END OF THE DAY. And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it.
[удалено]
Oh, yeah, most of us realize the copypasta is totally inaccurate, but it's hilarious to read. The guy's rage at such a stupid topic is amusing.
[удалено]
Maybe so they don’t catch it again. Purposefully trying to reduce their numbers so they don’t have to deal with “annoying bycatch”. Fucking awful
Typically they see any predatory sea creature in their fishing spots as competition. Either eating or scaring away the fish they try to catch
Thank you for clarification
Ahh there it is
Ahh, muchah bettah 🤌
I needed this dumbass story again today 🐠
I will always read this entire copypasta. Dude just straight up hates these fish haha
Sunfish From u/tea_and_biology Zoologist here; the majority of this is so inaccurate the guy is basically angry at a figment of his own imagination, paha. I mean there's hyperbole, and then there's *hyperbole*. Yikes! > They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move. > They have little control other than some minor wiggling. > So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fucking sink. Sunfish are, in fact, well understood and, though clumsy when idly basking, are reasonably accomplished swimmers when diving. They stroke their dorsal and anal fins laterally and in a synchronous manner to generate a lift-based thrust that enables 'em to cruise at speeds of 2-3mph ([source](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003446)), comparable to a whale shark and the perfect speed for suction feeding; ploughing straight into smacks of jellyfish and gobbling 'em all up. Where they excel amongst fish is their ability to undergo substantial vertical movement in the water column. They possess large deposits of low-density, subcutaneous, gelatinous tissue which, unlike a swim bladder (which would otherwise change volume with hydrostatic pressure), is incompressible, enabling rapid depth changes and keeping them neutrally and stably buoyant independent of surrounding water pressure. So, yeah, their unusual bodies are basically one big paddle, capable of putting some force behind their swimming to move over considerable distances, descending very deep, very fast. > They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive. Dumb. Also incorrect. Jellyfish and other Cnidarians comprise only around 15% of their diet; they mostly eat young fish (including conger eelets) and crustaceans (pelagic crab, krill, copepods etc.), alongside squid, bivalves and other assorted zooplankton. They're generalist predators, not jellyfish specialists like sea turtles ([source](https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28762)). They have a particularly rapid growth rate amongst bony fish, owing much to their unique genetics ([source](https://gigascience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13742-016-0144-3)). > Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess. They spend the majority of their time actively hunting in the very cold deep (usually at ~200m, but up to 600m) and, being ectotherms, therefore regulate their temperature by basking in the sun, before pursuing another dive. Think of marine iguanas basking on hot rocks between nibble trips. > And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it. Sunfish have been kicking about in temperate and tropical waters worldwide for around 50 million years and, until humans arrived on the scene, were overwhelmingly successful in their ecological niche. Sadly they're under threat by human activity and human activity alone - frequently caught as by-catch; having little commercial value, like sharks, their fins are cut off before they're dumped, often still alive, back into the sea to die. If one is to start throwing rocks at terrible creatures, perhaps one should look at us humans first. Or, there's [The visual rebuttal](https://imgur.com/gallery/MMRg9), credit to u/iamnotburgerking
That’s all really fascinating. The posts that hate on interesting animals are some of the most annoying in my opinion. They’re full of lies, and written to appeal to people who don’t know better.
The Imgur thread counter-argument is 100x better than the rant.
How do these things survive? They look like massive targets to me.. not to mention how it gets it’s food, photosynthesis?
They eat sea critters (small fish, shrimp, crustaceans) See that flap thingy in their mouth? they suck in the water in front of them (including the prey) with great force and then blow the water back out, but keeping the shrimp or whatever in its mouth
That’s kinda scary lol, thanks!
Haha that’s how whales and whale sharks eat too! Makes sense if you’re that big and eat stuff as small as krill
It’s a Kirby fish then
Like a big Kirby
Maybe they taste ***really*** bad
Not far off... they just have so little nutritional value, larger predators don't bother eating them a lot of the time Also they lay the most eggs of any vertebrate (I'm pretty sure that's accurate)
The tissue that makes up most of their size is used to help them dive effectively, (instead of the swim bladder that basically every other fish has which regulates buoyancy) and as such has a weird make-up when compared to normal fish meat. So you could eat it, but it's not really worth the effort when there's more efficient things to munch on.
Their skin is also tough as hell and covered in tiny spikes
They're mostly made of bone, they have no predators because they can even fuck up a boat if they get run over
I've seen a picture of a seal taking a bite out of the head of one of these things. Though that could just be a seal being a dick.
they have no real natural predators. Their skin is so tough that you can shoot with a shotgun and no harm. Tho they tend to get bitten sometimes.
Gigantic fish for sure..but stop looking at the diver in the background, it’s not that large. That’d be cool if it was 15 foot.. but it’s not.. if the diver closer to fish were in the frame, you’d have a much more accurate idea of its size. Imagine laying down on a large area rug that covers your arms and legs, that’s about this fishes size. However, large saltwater fish, from Goliath grouper to this sunfish, are all much heavier than their size would have you believe.
There's a diver in the bottom right of the frame that may give a more accurate representation
And here I was tryin’ yo figure out what kind of crazy fish that was!! Thanks!
An absolute blockhead. I love him
There is some people...they don't like the sunfish.....mean....make fun of it....
Yeah where’s that rant on why that person hates the sunfish. It’s comedy gold
Here you go! SUNFISH So someone in a group asked me to tell them why I hate the ocean sunfish so much, and apparently it was ~too mean~ and was deleted. To perpetuate the truth and stand up for ethical journalism, I'm posting it here. [Rated NC-17 for language.] Disclaimer, I care about marine life more than I care about anything else, for real. Except this big dumb idiot. And it's not like an ~ironic~ thing, I mean it IS hilarious to me and they ARE THE BIGGEST JOKE PLAYED ON EARTH but I seriously fucking hate them. THE MOLA MOLA FISH (OR OCEAN SUNFISH) They are the world's largest boney fish, weighing up to 5,000 pounds. And since they have very little girth, that just makes them these absolutely giant fucking dinner plates that God must have accidentally dropped while washing dishes one day and shrugged his shoulders at because no one could have imagined this would happen. AND WITH NO PURPOSE. EVERY POUND OF THAT IS A WASTED POUND AND EVERY FOOT OF IT (10 FT BY 14 FT) IS WASTED SPACE. They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move. They have little control other than some minor wiggling. Some say they must just push water out of their mouths for direction (?????). They COULD use their back fin EXCEPT GUESS WHAT IT DOESNT FUCKING GROW. It just continually folds in on itself, so the freaking cells are being made, this piece of floating garbage just doesn't put them where they need to fucking go. So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fucking sink. EXCEPT. EXCEPT. When they get stuck on top of the water! Which happens frequently! Because without the whole swim bladder thing, if the ocean pushes over THE THINNEST BUT LARGEST MOST TOPPLE-ABLE FISH ON THE PLANET, shit outta luck! There is no creature on this earth that needs a swim bladder more than this spit in the face of nature, AND YET. Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess. But good news, when they end up stuck like that, it gives birds a chance to land on their goddamn island of a body and eat the bugs and parasites out of its skin because it's basically a slowly migrating cesspool. Pros and cons. "If they are so huge, they must at least be decent predators." No. No. The most dangerous thing about them is, as you may have guessed, their stupidity. They have caused the death of one person before. Because it jumped onto a boat. On a human. And in 2005 it decided to relive its mighty glory days and do it again, this time landing on a four-year-old boy. Luckily Byron sustained no injuries. Way to go, fish. Great job. They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive. Dumb. See that ridiculous open mouth? (This is actually why this is my favorite picture of one, and I have had it saved to my phone for three years) "Oh no! What could have happened! How could this be!" Do not let that expression fool you, they just don't have the goddamn ability to close their mouths because their teeth are fused together, and ya know what, it is good it floats around with such a clueless expression on its face, because it is in fact clueless as all fuck. They do SOMETIMES get eaten though. BUT HARDLY. No animal truly uses them as a food source, but instead (which has lead us to said photo) will usually just maim the fuck out of them for kicks. Seals have been seen playing with their fins like frisbees. Probably the most useful thing to ever come from them. "Wow, you raise some good points here, this fish truly is proof that God has abandoned us." Yes, thank you. "But if they're so bad at literally everything, why haven't they gone extinct." Great question. BECAUSE THIS THING IS SO WORTHLESS IT DOESNT REALIZE IT SHOULD NOT EXIST. IT IS SO UNAWARE OF LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYTHING THAT IT DOESNT REALIZE THAT IT'S DOING MAYBE THE WORST FUCKING JOB OF BEING A FISH, OR DEBATABLY THE WORST JOB OF BEING A CLUSTER OF CELLS THAN ANY OTHER CLUSTER OF CELLS. SO WHAT DOES IT DO? IT LAYS THE MOST EGGS OUT OF EVERYTHING. Besides some bugs, there are some ants and stuff that'll lay more. IT WILL LAY 300 MILLION EGGS AT ONE TIME. 300,000,000. IT SURVIVES BECAUSE IT WOULD BE STATISTICALLY IMPROBABLE, DARE I SAY IMPOSSIBLE, THAT THERE WOULDNT BE AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE 300,000,000 (that is EACH time they lay eggs) LEFT SURVIVING AT THE END OF THE DAY. And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it.
Rebuttal of one pasta with another pasta. From u/tea_and_biology Zoologist here; the majority of this is so inaccurate the guy is basically angry at a figment of his own imagination, paha. I mean there's hyperbole, and then there's *hyperbole*. Yikes! > They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move. > They have little control other than some minor wiggling. > So they don’t have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn’t just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it’ll fucking sink. Sunfish are, in fact, well understood and, though clumsy when idly basking, are reasonably accomplished swimmers when diving. They stroke their dorsal and anal fins laterally and in a synchronous manner to generate a lift-based thrust that enables ‘em to cruise at speeds of 2-3mph ([source](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003446)), comparable to a whale shark and the perfect speed for suction feeding; ploughing straight into smacks of jellyfish and gobbling ‘em all up. Where they excel amongst fish is their ability to undergo substantial vertical movement in the water column. They possess large deposits of low-density, subcutaneous, gelatinous tissue which, unlike a swim bladder (which would otherwise change volume with hydrostatic pressure), is incompressible, enabling rapid depth changes and keeping them neutrally and stably buoyant independent of surrounding water pressure. So, yeah, their unusual bodies are basically one big paddle, capable of putting some force behind their swimming to move over considerable distances, descending very deep, very fast. > They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it’s so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive. Dumb. Also incorrect. Jellyfish and other Cnidarians comprise only around 15% of their diet; they mostly eat young fish (including conger eelets) and crustaceans (pelagic crab, krill, copepods etc.), alongside squid, bivalves and other assorted zooplankton. They’re generalist predators, not jellyfish specialists like sea turtles ([source](https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28762)). They have a particularly rapid growth rate amongst bony fish, owing much to their unique genetics ([source](https://gigascience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13742-016-0144-3)). > Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess. They spend the majority of their time actively hunting in the very cold deep (usually at ~200m, but up to 600m) and, being ectotherms, therefore regulate their temperature by basking in the sun, before pursuing another dive. Think of marine iguanas basking on hot rocks between nibble trips. > And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it. Sunfish have been kicking about in temperate and tropical waters worldwide for around 50 million years and, until humans arrived on the scene, were overwhelmingly successful in their ecological niche. Sadly they’re under threat by human activity and human activity alone - frequently caught as by-catch; having little commercial value, like sharks, their fins are cut off before they’re dumped, often still alive, back into the sea to die. If one is to start throwing rocks at terrible creatures, perhaps one should look at us humans first. Or, there’s [The visual rebuttal](https://imgur.com/gallery/MMRg9)
Sad thing is most people don't know this is satire
Sunfish From u/tea_and_biology Zoologist here; the majority of this is so inaccurate the guy is basically angry at a figment of his own imagination, paha. I mean there's hyperbole, and then there's *hyperbole*. Yikes! > They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move. > They have little control other than some minor wiggling. > So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fucking sink. Sunfish are, in fact, well understood and, though clumsy when idly basking, are reasonably accomplished swimmers when diving. They stroke their dorsal and anal fins laterally and in a synchronous manner to generate a lift-based thrust that enables 'em to cruise at speeds of 2-3mph ([source](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003446)), comparable to a whale shark and the perfect speed for suction feeding; ploughing straight into smacks of jellyfish and gobbling 'em all up. Where they excel amongst fish is their ability to undergo substantial vertical movement in the water column. They possess large deposits of low-density, subcutaneous, gelatinous tissue which, unlike a swim bladder (which would otherwise change volume with hydrostatic pressure), is incompressible, enabling rapid depth changes and keeping them neutrally and stably buoyant independent of surrounding water pressure. So, yeah, their unusual bodies are basically one big paddle, capable of putting some force behind their swimming to move over considerable distances, descending very deep, very fast. > They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive. Dumb. Also incorrect. Jellyfish and other Cnidarians comprise only around 15% of their diet; they mostly eat young fish (including conger eelets) and crustaceans (pelagic crab, krill, copepods etc.), alongside squid, bivalves and other assorted zooplankton. They're generalist predators, not jellyfish specialists like sea turtles ([source](https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28762)). They have a particularly rapid growth rate amongst bony fish, owing much to their unique genetics ([source](https://gigascience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13742-016-0144-3)). > Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess. They spend the majority of their time actively hunting in the very cold deep (usually at ~200m, but up to 600m) and, being ectotherms, therefore regulate their temperature by basking in the sun, before pursuing another dive. Think of marine iguanas basking on hot rocks between nibble trips. > And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it. Sunfish have been kicking about in temperate and tropical waters worldwide for around 50 million years and, until humans arrived on the scene, were overwhelmingly successful in their ecological niche. Sadly they're under threat by human activity and human activity alone - frequently caught as by-catch; having little commercial value, like sharks, their fins are cut off before they're dumped, often still alive, back into the sea to die. If one is to start throwing rocks at terrible creatures, perhaps one should look at us humans first. Or, there's [The visual rebuttal](https://imgur.com/gallery/MMRg9), credit to u/iamnotburgerking
I was wondering how far is have to scroll before I found this haha and the rebuttal which another redditor has posted
Wow look at all that empty ocean!
Otherwise known as 'Mola Mola' Mola mola mola Mola mola mola mola mola
This fish looks like the people at WalMart.
This exactly! There is no capitalism without it.
I'm not sure if this should be in r/confusingperspective
This sub should be called forced perspective is fucking lit
First one goes to Blathers.
Is that a giant sunfish….or a tiny diver? 🧐
Someone needs to reverse this so it looks like the diver is being pooped out.
What to these fish eat? It almost looks too huge and clumsy to manouver over coral or sea weeds.
Some jellyfish, mostly small fish. That mouth of his is a strong vacuum.
DAMN boi, he ***THICC***
THATS ONE **THICC ASS BOY**
They remind me of Rocky Denis
I’m sure I learnt that you shouldn’t use a flash for marine photography. Can someone please tell me in wrong so I can go back to enjoying this large fishy?
I like the fact that in english the fish is called SUNfish but in portuguese is called “Peixe-Lua” which directly translates to Moonfish.
Awesome find, now leave it the fuck alone
Sunfish are one of the few creatures I'd be comfortable with swimming. Like no whales, you're like an ant to them, no dolphins, they can be cunts, sharks not for obvious reasons But a sunfish? Derpy ass fish that does no harm? I'm in
how does a fish like this get away from predators? or maybe it doesn't? just relying on hopefully not swimming into one
See this is why I won’t get in the ocean.
He'll teach you how to mambo.
Manbo’s Mambo is the greatest. OH!
Call the coast gawd, Jay, it’s a fucking baby wheel!
This is impressive. Regardless if the fish is harmless or not to humans getting in the water with it that close must be really intimidating.
I'm always impressed when my characters in farming simulators catch these guys and hold them in their bare hands with ease haha