Spotting two sunfish while scuba diving off the coast of a popular Sydney beach was a “once in a lifetime” moment for two divers.
On Sunday, while scuba diving off Long Reef beach in the Collaroy area of Sydney, Justin Ewan and his friend Joshua Ku saw two “massive figures” approaching them.
The two black shapes were actually two “curious” sunfish, each about 1.8 meters across, which Mr. Ewan quickly identified.
In the seas of Long Reef beach in Collaroy, a suburb of Sydney’s northern beaches, two sunfish were seen. Amazing footage of the one-of-a-kind meeting was shot with a GoPro camera (shown)
“When it was my turn to dive, I dove down to about 10 meters and looked straight ahead and noticed two massive figures coming towards me,” Mr. Ewan told 9News.
When they first approached me, I still couldn’t believe they were massive sunfish—just two of them.
‘It seems like they were more interested in me than I was, since they came swimming up to me.’
Sunfish are usually seen in warm water far offshore, so this sighting was very unusual, according to Ewan.
Using a GoPro, the two divers recorded the extraordinary encounter and posted the film to Instagram.
An opportunity like this doesn’t come around very often, according to Mr. Ewan.
As soon as they surfaced, I lowered myself gently and calmly dove in, and I was able to swim up close enough to film them as they swam away.
Amazing, that was it. Following my lead, Josh jumped in and had an opportunity of his own. We were quite appreciative of the opportunity.
Scuba diving, according to Mr. Ewan, is so exciting because you never know what you’ll see next.
Since sunfish are usually seen in warmer waters well offshore, not in water that is 10 to 20 meters deep near the beach, Justin Ewan said that the observation was very unusual. Gratitude and a sense of a “once in a lifetime” opportunity were expressed by Ewan (left) and Joshua Ku (right) after their encounter.
The sunfish, sоmetimes knоwn as the mоla mоla, is the largest bоny fish in the wоrld.
Their tremendous size (3.1 m x 4.2 m x over 2,000 kg) and the fact that they are endangered in the wild make this find all the more remarkable.
Because of their fin, they are sometimes mistaken for sharks and can be found in tropical waters all around the globe.
An endangered species, ocean sunfish are listed on the “Red List” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
They аre becоming increаsingly rаre аs а result оf humаn аctivities such аs netting аnd the аccidentаl ingestiоn оf plаstic debris in the оceаn.
Japan and Taiwan likewise hold them in high regard as a delicacy.