Donegal trawler crew net a 'beast' of a sunfish

Juri Petrov from Estonia and the monster sunfish caught by the crew of the Northern Celt, which they later released unharmed

THE CREW of a Co Donegal trawler got a surprise catch of the day when they hauled up their nets to reveal one of the biggest fish they had ever seen.

The Northern Celt crewmen, including Juri Petrov from Estonia and Mark Reynolds from Greencastle, released the big fish back into the sea without harm but they have just brought ashore the photograph they took.

The MFV Northern Celt from Greencastle was fishing at Stanton Bank about 25 miles northwest of Malin Head when the crew netted the big sunfish.

Jim Farren said: “I’ve been fishing for 14 years and have seen a lot of sunfish over the years, but nothing this size.”

“The beast”, as the stunned crewmen dubbed it, was more than 5ft long and nearly 6ft in height from fin-tip to fin-tip.

The ocean sunfish – Latin name Mola Mola – is the world’s largest bony fish. It has been known to tip the scales at two tonnes and can measure up to 11ft.