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A weird 7-foot fish with a face “only a mother could love” washed ashore in Oregon – and it’s rarer than experts thought
An “unusual” and “strange looking fish” washed up onto an Oregon coast earlier this month, shocking people with its gargantuan size. At first, experts thought it was just a “run of the mill ocean sunfish,” known by the scientific name Mola mola, but now, they’ve learned it’s something else – and rare.
The Seaside Aquarium said in a Facebook post last week that the after photos of the massive 7.3-foot fish caused “quite a stir on social media,” New Zealand researcher Mariann Nyegaard believed it was a species that isn’t familiar to Oregon, but that she extensive experience with. The fish turned out to be a hoodwinker sunfish, which she “discovered and described” in research published in 2017.
Hoodwinkers were discovered “hiding in plain sight” in museum collections after 125 years of specimens being misidentified, according to the Australian Museum. Describing sunfish as “beautiful giants,” the museum says that the world’s largest bony fish can grow to be more than 4,400 pounds.
“Only a mother could love that face,” one person commented on the aquarium’s announcement, with another person describing the fish as “huge and sort of scary and interesting all at the same time.”
Hoodwinker sunfish were originally believed to only live in temperate waters in the southern hemisphere, the aquarium said. But that has quickly changed.
“That theory would be challenged as a few have recently washed ashore in California and one as far north as Alaska,” the Seaside Aquarium said. “This fish, hiding in plain sight, has most likely been seen/washed ashore in the Pacific Northwest before but was mistaken for the more common, Mola mola.”
Courtesy of Thomas Turner
A hoodwinker sunfish was found at the University of California Santa Barbara’s Coal Oil Point Reserve in 2019, with one specialist calling it “the most remarkable organism I have seen wash up on the beach.”
The aquarium said that it would keep the fish on Gearhart beach and that at the time of the posting, its body would “probably remain for a few more days, maybe weeks as their tough skin makes it hard for scavengers to puncture.”
“It is a remarkable fish and the aquarium encourages people to go see it for themselves,” they added.
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A food company known for popular grocery store condiments has recalled a package of tortilla strips that may be contaminated with wheat, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday. The product is meant to be gluten-free.
Sugar Foods, a manufacturing and distribution corporation focused mainly on various toppings, artificial sweeteners and snacks, issued the recall for the “Santa Fe Style” version of tortilla strips sold by the brand Fresh Gourmet.
“People who have a wheat allergy or severe sensitivity to wheat run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume the product,” said Sugar Foods in an announcement posted by the FDA.
Packages of these tortilla strips with an expiration date as late as June 20, 2025, could contain undeclared wheat, meaning the allergen is not listed as an ingredient on the label. The Fresh Gourmet product is marketed as gluten-free.
Sugar Foods said a customer informed the company on Nov. 19 that packages of the tortilla strips actually contained crispy onions, another Fresh Gourmet product normally sold in a similar container. The brand’s crispy onion product does contain wheat, and that allergen is noted on the label.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
No illnesses tied to the packaging mistake have been reported, according to the announcement from Sugar Foods. However, the company is still recalling the tortilla strips as a precaution. The contamination issue may have affected products distributed between Sept. 30 and Nov. 11 in 22 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
Sugar Foods has advised anyone with questions about the recall to contact the company’s consumer care department by email or phone.
CBS News reached out to Sugar Foods for more information but did not receive an immediate reply.
This is the latest in a series of food product recalls affected because of contamination issues, although the others involved harmful bacteria. Some recent, high-profile incidents include an E. coli outbreak from organic carrots that killed at least one person in California, and a listeria outbreak that left an infant dead in California and nine people hospitalized across four different states, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The E. coli outbreak is linked to multiple different food brands while the listeria outbreak stemmed from a line of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products sold by Yu-Shang Foods.
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