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Giant moonfish caught by Kuril island fishermen was fed to brown bears 

By The Siberian Times reporter
14 September 2017

Sea creature known to be the first warm-blooded fish weighed more than a ton. 

Fishermen from Iturup caught a moonfish on 9 September off the South Kuril island. Picture: Sakhalin Info

There was controversy over a decision to let bears eat the rare monster fish, with scientists claiming it should have been donated to a museum.

Fishermen from Iturup caught a moonfish on 9 September off the South Kuril island. It is considered to be rare prey in the Kuril, and locals could not recall seeing a moonfish so big. 

The boat that caught the giant was so surprised of its size and weight - approximate 1,100 kgs - that it took them more than a day to decide whether to take the catch with them, or let go. 

Moonfish

Scientists from Sakhalin History museum tried to get hold of the rare creature once they heard about it being caught, but were too late. Picture: Sakhalin Info

The moonfish died while they were making decision. The rare fish was then brought to shore of Iturup and left in the port for a couple of days. 

As it started to rot, the port officials decided to give it to 'fish safari' - a site on the island where local brown bears get fed on fish during lean years when the beasts cannot find sufficient food.  

Scientists from Sakhalin History museum tried to get hold of the rare creature once they heard about it being caught, but were too late. Upset by losing the moonfish to bears, they negotiated better co-operation in future with the fishermen.

'Fish safari'  - a site on the island where local brown bears get fed on fish during lean years when the beasts cannot find sufficient food. Picture: Natalia Golubkova/Sakhalin Infotalia Golubkova/Sakhalin Info

Bears on Iturup


Bears on Iturup


Bears on Iturup


Bears on Iturup


Bears on Iturup


Bears on Iturup


Bears on Iturup

Comments (7)

at least it was no - starfish- and hopefully the bears had a good time. good idea to feed the bears. so they might stay away from the village and out of harms way.
Benedikt MORAK, Moscow
17/09/2017 21:25
2
0
Please it is necessary to protect fishes, espécially rare spécimen and deep-watersea fishes .Thank you
Jocelyne, FRANCE
16/09/2017 16:45
7
1
quick fix: I mean sunfish not opah
Roman, germany
15/09/2017 17:29
1
0
gawdawful, it's a translation error. In Russia ocean sunfish called actually рыба-луна or literally moon fish. But in english moon-fish is another kind of fish.
Roman, Germany
15/09/2017 17:27
2
0
Between the sun? & the moon?; that is one big fish.
Jaker, Dundalk
15/09/2017 11:05
1
0
They should have let it go...
Enrique, Spain
15/09/2017 07:13
9
0
That is an ocean sunfish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish, and they are not wam-blooded. This fish is being confused with the opah, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opah, which is warm-blooded and also called a moonfish.
gawdawful, USA
15/09/2017 06:38
6
1
1

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