THE LIST OF FISH species documented for the Bird ’ s Head Seascape is the largest in the world , making this the epicentre of marine biodiversity . This list is by no means complete , however , and it seems to grow a little longer all the time , just as it did last week when Raja Ampat ’ s first ocean sunfish , Mola ramsayi , awkwardly paddled by our boat .
Initially , I thought the strange fin wobbling through the glassy surface was that of a manta , as they often feed in this area . But as the mystery fin came closer it became clear it did not belong to a manta , as it was waving rather than flapping .
When the glare from the placid water shifted , we were finally able to witness the creature responsible for the disturbance in our surface interval naps – a beautiful ocean sunfish !
Sunfish spend the majority of their lives hundreds of metres below the surface and only come to the shallows for an occasional cleaning ; we all knew it was really unusual to find one casually paddling along at the surface of the clearblue 29-degree water .
It wasn ’ t until we started posting the photos online that we discovered it was actually the first ever sighting of a living ocean sunfish in the Bird ’ s Head Seascape . It is now officially number 1,766 on the region ’ s list of fish species !
Text & image by Alex Lindbloom
1,000 WORDS
“ The future is in the hands of those who explore ... and from all the beauty they discover while crossing perpetually receding frontiers , they develop for Nature and for humankind , an infinite love .”
Jacques-Yves Cousteau , 1910 – 1997