Nerve-racking ‘shark’ encounter takes unexpected turn as ‘strangest fish in the ocean’ surfaces
If a shark was a surprise, this was something else entirely.
THIS is the nerve-racking moment a surfer finds what looks like a shark only a few feet from his board – but the truth is stranger still.
Photographer Eric Mendelson captured the striking images from Cowell's Beach, Santa Cruz, in the US state of California.
He said: “I walked to a bluff overlooking the water; there was a group of perhaps 10 people looking out into the bay.
“There were two surfers in the ocean watching something quite large swimming near them.
“Another surfer who'd got out of the water told me he came ashore because he'd seen what he thought was a large shark and pointed out the creature everyone was looking at.”
Sharks are common in Monterey Bay, and great white sharks – the world’s largest predatory fish – visit seasonally in late summer.
But the surfers had encountered a creature far more elusive – what’s been called the ocean’s strangest fish.
Eric said: “In fact, the animal was not a shark or a whale, it was a large ocean sunfish basking in the shallow water.
“Partially submerged with just its dorsal fin protruding from the water, it could easily be mistaken for a shark as you saw from one of my photos.”
Ocean sunfish or mola mola are the world’s heaviest bony fish, according to Monterey Bay Aquarium, weighing up to 5,000 lbs (2,268 kg).
They’re known for their bizarre appearance – looking incredibly tall and broad from the sides, but almost flat from the front and back, as if squashed.
It’s a look that's got them branded “the ocean's strangest fish” by BBC Countryfile.
Mr Mendelson, a retiree, said: “They are rare to see as close to shore as this one was, although they are not terribly uncommon out in the open ocean.
“I have lived near the beach in Santa Cruz for over forty years and this was the first time I've ever seen one in the wild.
“I saw one in the Monterey Bay Aquarium several years ago, but it had to be released because it outgrew its tank.
“Despite their enormity, they are docile animals, harmless to humans.”
He added: “Unlike sunfish, sharks are common in the Monterey Bay and great white sharks are often spotted here.
“While they're omnipresent in the area, attacks are very rare.”
Eric warned that sunfish, elusive as they are, may become even harder to find in the future.
He said: “They most commonly eat jellyfish and other small animals.
“Human garbage, such as floating plastic bags, pose a risk to them as they mistake the plastics for jellyfish.
“Once ingested the bags can clog up the digestive tracts of the sunfish causing them to starve to death.
“They’re also at risk from being caught up in commercial fishing nets, which is tragic because they're not fished here for food.”