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A California beachcomber stumbled upon one of the world’s rarest fish species washed ashore at Bodega Bay on Sunday. After dropping his wife at the airport, he headed to the beach for a cleanup session when he spotted what he initially thought was a dead sea lion – but turned out to be something far more extraordinary.
The mysterious creature was a Mola tecta – a massive 6-foot long, 3-foot tall specimen that belongs to a species scientists only formally identified in 2017. The discovery represents an exceptionally rare find for marine biologists and ocean enthusiasts alike.
What makes this fish truly remarkable is its unusual appearance. Unlike its ocean sunfish relatives, the Mola tecta lacks a back fin and tail, with a disproportionately tiny nose that seems oddly mismatched with its enormous body.
The beachgoer didn’t immediately recognize what he’d found.
After photographing the strange creature, he returned home and searched online for “enormous rare dead fish on beach near me.” This led him to articles about similar-looking Mola mola specimens, but he noticed key differences in the fish he’d discovered. Intrigued, he contacted the Press Democrat, who reached out to scientific experts.
Dr. Marianne Nyegaard – the New Zealand scientist who first described the Mola tecta in 2017 – confirmed the surprising identification. She and her colleagues had previously believed the species existed only in the Southern Hemisphere until 2019, when specimens began appearing along the North American Pacific coast.
This Bodega Bay specimen joins just a handful of documented Mola tecta findings outside their expected range. Previous specimens have washed up in Oregon, Alaska, and Southern California – suggesting the fish’s habitat may be more extensive than initially thought.
The Mola tecta (sometimes called the “hoodwinker sunfish”) differs from its relatives – the more common Mola mola and Mola alexandrini – through both genetic testing and visible physical characteristics. These differences were significant enough for scientists to classify it as a distinct subspecies when first documented in New Zealand waters.
Additional footage of this remarkable specimen can be viewed here:
Marine biologists are now studying this latest finding to better understand the Mola tecta’s range, behavior, and what might have caused this specimen to wash ashore in Northern California.
