This ocean sunfish — scientific name: Mola mola — was found on the shore of Barangay Lazareto in Calapan. (Contributed photo)
CITY OF CALAPAN — An ocean sunfish, locally called “mola mola,” was beached on the shore of Barangay Lazareto in this city where it died on Saturday afternoon.
The sunfish is considered rare and endangered, according to Rhodora Ramiento, senior aquaculturist at the Oriental Mindoro Agriculture Office – Fisheries and Coastal Resource Management Division.
The fish, measuring 90 centimeters by 1.5 meters, was found at around 3 p.m. by residents.
The Bantay Dagat attempted to return the sunfish to the sea but failed.
Ramiento said the personnel from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources would be coming to “check what’s inside the stomach and intestine.”
Marius Panahon, technical officer at the city fisheries office, said the anal fin of the bony fish was found detached.
The sunfish was placed under vulnerable status in the category of threatened species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). /atm