Rough seas have been blamed for washing ashore a rare and weighty spectacle at Whangaimoana Beach near Lake Ferry.
Resident Janie Malton said yesterday her husband, Tan, had been checking beachline fences for damage in the wake of rough seas last Thursday when he stumbled across an ocean sunfish that had been washed ashore dead.
Don MacIlraith, a long-time resident of the area, had also seen the sunfish and had said it was the first he had seen along that stretch of coastline.
Mrs Malton said: "It was measured out at about two metres by one metre and would have weighed a lot.
"Three of us probably wouldn't have been able to shift it.
