VietNamNet Bridge – A fisherman in Nghe An province, central Vietnam, caught an ocean sunfish, which rarely appears in the sea of Vietnam.



Mr. Doan and the rare fish.


The fish is over 1.5m long, 15kg in weight but it was dead. The fisherman, Mr. Ho Van Doan, said that the fish was dead one hour after he netted it offshore Nghe An. He froze the fish with ice.

Doan also said that this was the first time he had seen such a fish. He sold the fishto a local man named Chien, at the price of VND4.5 million (over $200).

Chien said that in April 2010, he bought a similar fish of 30kg from a fisherman in Quynh Lap district, Nghe An, at the price of VND5 million. Chien presented the fish to the Vietnam Museum of Nature.

The man added that he would also give this fish to the museum. He bought the fish because he had heard that fisherman Doan had wanted to slaughter the rare fish.

The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb).

The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.

It is named in the Vietnam Red Book.













PV