Fishermen donate rare fish to museum

(Baonghean.vn)- While fishing in the Gulf of Tonkin, fishermen in Quynh Luu district caught a rare ocean sunfish and donated it to the museum.

On August 7, Mr. Bui Van Can, residing in Quynh Phuong commune, Hoang Mai town, and Mr. Dao Ngoc Huan, Dai Bac hamlet, Quynh Long commune, Quynh Luu district, along with local people, donated rare moon fish to the Vietnam Museum of Nature.

The sunfish was caught in a net in the Gulf of Tonkin and died immediately upon being brought aboard. The ship owner carefully iced it and brought it ashore.

Previously, Mr. Dao Ngoc Huan's fishing boat, fishing off the coast of the Gulf of Tonkin, caught a fish measuring 1.4 meters long, 1.6 meters wide, and weighing 120 kg. Knowing that this was a rare ocean sunfish, Mr. Huan and his crew decided to bring the fish ashore because it died immediately after being caught in the net.

Hearing that Mr. Huan had caught a sunfish, Mr. Bui Van Can, who regularly contacts staff at the Vietnam Museum of Nature, came to persuade the boat owner to donate the fish to the museum for scientific research.

The 120kg sunfish is a rare species, listed in the Vietnam Red Book.

The scientific name of the ocean sunfish is Mola mola, belonging to the order of pufferfish (Tetraodontiformes). This fish is listed in the Vietnam Red Book as an endangered species that needs protection. They are mainly distributed in the Gulf of Tonkin and the central coast. In Nghe An, Mr. Bui Van Can is the one who mobilized many fishermen from Quynh Luu district and Hoang Mai town to donate fish to the museum when they caught this rare fish species.

Nguyen Khoa - Bui Cuong