SEATTLE — Fisherman Todd LaClair says he knew he had something big as he pulled in his gillnet in Seattle’s Elliott Bay. He says the creature he caught “looked like something that came from Mars.”
The Seattle Times reports the Muckleshoot tribal fisherman pulled in a giant sunfish Tuesday night.
LaClair estimates the fish, also known as a mola, weighed 325 to 350 pounds.
It was so big he asked for help from a larger vessel, and with the help of three other people managed to bring it on board.
The fisherman brought the sunfish Wednesday to Sunfish Fish &Chips on Alki, where it drew a crowd of onlookers.
The mola is a bony fish featuring a rather round-shaped body with a large dorsal and lower body fin, and a very rough skin texture.
Washington state Fish and Wildlife biologist Mark Baltzell says there have been “lots of weird fish” showing up in Puget Sound this year.
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