ORMOC CITY-A giant ocean sunfish was discovered by residents of an island village in Salcedo, Eastern Samar which later died.
(MA.ROCHELLE MELGAR FACEBOOK)
The sunfish, locally known as ‘mola-mola’ was found by the villagers of Maliwaliw at about 7 am on Monday (March 13), Mayor Ma. Rochelle Mergal said on her social media account post.
Mergal said that the giant fish, weighing about 200 kilograms, was wandering near the shore of the island village when discovered by residents in the area.
She said that the sunfish looked ‘disoriented’ as it swimming aimlessly reason that the locals tried to push it back to the sea.
However, the mola-mola swam back to the shore where it died past 11 am.
Representatives from the Guiuan Development Foundation Inc. (GDFI) a non-government organization, conducted a post-mortem examination of the giant fish and discovered that an infection was found at the liver of the fish.
The examination further revealed that the stomach of the giant fish was empty.
The sunfish, which measured 258 cm from the apex of the dorsal fin to the apex of its anal fin, was immediately buried in the island village after the examination.
It was learned that villagers of Maliwaliw are not strangers to seeing big fish as there were dolphins and sharks. (ROBERT DEJON)
