The world's heaviest species of bony fish has washed up on a Dunedin beach.
On Friday, a sunfish drew plenty of attention at Dowling Bay, Port Chalmers where residents inspected the unexpected visitor.
The deep sea fish was first spotted by locals who thought it was a shark so they called in the experts.
"I saw what I thought was a funny rock - it turned out to be a sunfish," wildlife responder Giverny Forbes told Newshub.
Sadly the attempt to refloat the large fish was unsuccessful.
"Oceanic species that are used to swimming around in deep water and encounter shallow water don't cope very well," Department of Conservation Otago coastal biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe said.
Sunfish are the largest bony fish species and can weigh up to two-and-a-half tonnes.
The one found at Dowling Bay barely fitted onto the trailer and weighed 450 kilograms.
Finding a sunfish is rare but not unknown, there have been six strandings here in the last 15 years.
"They inhabit the deep ocean [and] feed mostly on plankton [and] jellyfish. It's pretty special to have them here," Fyfe said.
The fish has been wrapped and stored away safely.
"We couldn't save its life but we saved it for science," Forbes said.
