the fish I've never seen

This fish is the "Pesce Luna" (Moonfish) in Italian and the "Ocean Sunfish" in English. And I have never seen it before.

I go to zoos. I go to aquariums. And wait a minute, I actually worked in a zoo. I think I have a fair grasp of what's out there. But I guess I'm not as animal-wise as I thought, because Mr. Sunfish here was like a punch in the gut.

When was the last time you saw something you didn't know existed? For me, seeing this fish was like finding out a secret that a friend had held so well, for so long, that when she finally revealed it your reaction was an uncontrollable ghasp. This fish felt like that.

The Italians at the museum seemed far more enamored with the sharks that shared the tank with the sunfish. (The sharks, mind you, that were smaller than the sunfish!) I respect a shark as much as the next guy but this sunfish was just too odd to ignore.



I have since found out that the ocean sunfish is the world's largest bony fish. Sharks and rays are made of cartilage and so are not the same. The eyes of the sunfish were so large and so alive - moving as it swam past the windows - not at all like standard fish eyes that have all the personality of a rubber tire with a dab of margarine in the center.



The photo above is from www.oceanlight.com and shows just how large sunfish get. Apparently they eat plankton and so are not to be feared by humans. But anything that lives in a tank with a team of sharks and is for the most part left alone deserves a healthy dose of respect. We may not yet know what the sharks figured out long ago.

All I know is that this fish is like a ufo that landed in my backyard. And I'm happy to be let in on the secret.