Aw sharks … it’s just a fish? Hong Kong police called in after mistaken sighting of 1.2-metre-long creature in Tuen Mun River
- Creature had a fin protruding from water as it swam, prompting caller to tell officers it was a shark, but experts say it may have been an ocean sunfish
- Internet users toy with fish’s name, saying ‘mola’ sounds like ‘all is lost’ in Cantonese, and joke that it triggered a crash in local stock market
Residents strolling along a river in northwestern Hong Kong got a scare on Monday morning when they spotted a large fin protruding from the water’s surface, prompting a call to police that a shark was swimming not far from a housing estate.
But what was thought to be a rare sighting of the feared predator turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
The big fish, reported to be under two metres in length, was first spotted in the river off Tuen Mun Park at 8.10am, according to police.
A force insider said the caller saw a fin protruding from the water and thought it was a shark. The fish had swum away when officers arrived.
Officers later spotted what was suspected to be the same fish in waters off Lung Mun Oasis housing estate. The two sites are about 1km apart.
The source said the animal was confirmed not to be a shark.
“It is possible that it was chasing smaller prey, got lost and entered the river by mistake,” the insider added.
Sharks are not commonly seen in Hong Kong waters. The last reported sighting was in June 2020 off Sai Kung, while the last deadly shark attacks date back to June 1995, when three people were killed.
Officers from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, who were also called to the scene, found a 1.2-metre-long fish in Tuen Mun River at about 10.15am.
“From what was seen, it is likely a juvenile common mola, also known as an ocean sunfish,” its spokesman said.
According to the department, sunfish are a large marine species and the largest bony fish, and could grow as long as three metres and 2.3 tonnes in weight. It is classified as a vulnerable species and taxonomically falls in the same family as boxfish and pufferfish, or an order called plectognathi, despite their notable differences in size.
“Sunfish often swim near the water surface, and its protruding fin is sometimes mistaken for a shark’s fin,” its spokesman said, adding that it later swam out to sea.
Shark encounter gives Hong Kong swimmers fright of their lives
Judging from online photos taken by residents, Chong Dee-hwa, the chairman and founder of the Ichthyological Society of Hong Kong, agreed the fish could be the common mola, also known as the ocean sunfish.
He said the sunfish could be identified by its disc-liked body plan, spotted pattern and the sideways movement of its dorsal fin.
“It was definitely not a shark because a shark’s mouth is located under its head, but the sunfish has its small, round mouth in front of its head,” Chong said, refuting rumours circulating online.
Two metre-long shark spotted in Silvermine Bay on Lantau South
Four out of five species of sunfish inhabit the South China Sea and all are pelagic, which means they inhabit offshore areas, he explained, adding that the fish could grow more than two metres in length and two tonnes in weight.
“The mola is used to living in waters with high salinity. They are not commonly seen in coastal waters,” he said.
“Finding one near Hong Kong, especially in the city’s northwest, where the salinity is much lower, may suggest that that animal might not be in good health. It shouldn’t feel comfortable staying there, but it might have got lost, going further into the river.”
The origins of the creature’s name – it is known as “overturned car fish” in Chinese – has remained debatable.
Chong suggested that its Chinese name should refer to its resemblance to a water wheel, but the Environmental Information Centre, a non-profit green group in Taiwan, said it is so named because of its basking behaviour. It is believed they lie flat to regulate their body temperature and get rid of parasites that cling to their skin.
Meanwhile, some internet users toyed with the fish’s name, saying “mola” sounded like “all is lost” in Cantonese. They joked that the fish had triggered a crash in the local stock market on Monday.
