this fish washed up by Rojo up north at a friend of mines house. It was wading around for a while then they finally got ahold of it. its tail was gone? and was half dead.

what is it?

edible?

AC

It appears to be a juvenile ocean sunfish. They get much much bigger than that in the deep ocean. Wikipedia

Yes, that was I was told - it is a sunfish.

Those are open ocean fish that can grow to 10' across. Very Cool!

Sun Fish
I saw one at Hol Chan that was adult, about 10 feet across, correct. They look like a fish with out a head or a head with out a body but definitely weird.
A very peaceful docile guy
Ac what isn't edible?

they let it go I woulda grilled it. and then looked it up later!

AC

thats a joke for all you fish huggers

Yes, I've seen many of them, it is a Sun Fish. When you see them at sea all you see at first is a large fin sticking up above the water. They can get huge and you can approach them very closely. I believe that they feed on jelly fish.

Also called Mola Mola. Damn shame that one's dead, considering how rare they are.

Are your friends sure that it was dying while it was lolling around? After all, a docile fish like that, might just have been trying to figure out how to get back to the deep water.

Sigh.

AC, just re-read your original post. I'm a bit confused. You said it was half-dead, but you also said they let it go? Do you mean, that it looked like it was half dead, your guys got hold of it, but then let it go? Maybe it is still alive, if not too badly mauled? Hoping for a happy ending.

Glad to hear this is a sunfish. I am the person who took the above picture. The fish came so close to shore, and acted very strange for what I consider a normal fish. Now that all of you were nice enough to inform us of what it is, and now know that it was normal behavior (to swim on it's side, and not have a tail) I am happy to tell you that I am positive it is still alive swimming around. We let it go in case it was trying to get back out to the deep. It took its good old time, but eventually I lost track of it. It was so strange looking that we thought it was butchered up, and acting so strange that we thought it was injured. Happy ending!

Yaaaay!!! Thanks!! (I'm just a big ole fish hugger, sorry about that)

Despite everything, I can understand why you wanted to take that picture tho'. And now you've seen something that so many haven't!

I'm also happy to hear that you let it go and that it was still swimming. Very strange fish, but so interesting to see!

Here's a link to the exact fish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharptail_mola

"The lifespan for this species is estimated to be 85 years for males and 105 years for females."
WOW!

how cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHHp9iVKiF4

This variety is very common along the Atlantic coastal waters during late summer and fall. Have seen 1/2 dozen in a single day floating along with the currents. They will often swim near your boat and kinda check you out. Also have the ability to leap clear of the water by 5 or 6 feet...hard to imagine seeing as they hardly have a tail for propulsion. Leaping seems to be when frightened or possibly to shake off pesky parasites. Have seen them 4 or 5 times bigger than the one in the photo and they are incredibly heavy.