Giant sensational find

Giant moonfish washes up off Venice

It is not yet known exactly how the moonfish ended up on the Venice Lido (symbolic image).

(Bild: National Marine Sanctuaries, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

It is a sad sensational find that walkers made last Saturday at the Lido de Venezia. A two and a half meter long moonfish weighing a ton lay in the sand in front of them.

The passers-by immediately called the emergency services - the fire department then documented the monstrous sight of the already dead animal on Facebook (see post below). The huge fish was washed up near the former hospital building not far from Nicelli airfield in the north of the Lido.

Some of the pictures show straps around the fish's body, and the tracks in the sand show that the fish has already been pulled ashore by the emergency services. The animal had to be rescued with the help of the police due to the predicted bad weather, the fire department explained about the pictures.

At one tonne, almost a lightweight
With its impressive size, the washed-up moonfish probably weighs around one tonne. However, compared to its conspecifics, it is still a lightweight - the largest moonfish ever weighed was discovered off the coast of an island in the Azores - at a whopping 2.7 tons live weight, the specimen was more than twice as heavy as the animal on the Lido.

Giant bony fish

Moonfish are the largest bony fish in the world. They are characterized by their large eyes and mouth, which they cannot close completely. They feel most at home in tropical and subtropical waters.

Moonfish are huge and can reach over two meters in length. They normally swim in warm waters, but are occasionally found in the Mediterranean. The animals mainly feed on jellyfish.

According to the fire department, the monster will now be removed by a specialist company and eventually made available to the University of Padua for research purposes.