Steven Jones, the supervisor of a cockle fishing crew, and colleague Hunter Church spotted the creature over the weekend, and the National Parks of South Australia posted photos of the creature and its discoverers taken by Jones' partner, Linette Grzelak, on Tuesday.
Grzelak told several news outlets that the fishers first thought they'd come across a hunk of driftwood. Though a huge animal, this particular sunfish, at about six feet (1.8 meters) long, is relatively small for its species. Jones, she said, knew of the creatures but had never seen one. "He said it was extremely heavy, and the skin was rough and leathery like a rhinoceros."
"It is possible it just got lost, but it is also possible it is linked to climate change."
"However, as we only so recently described the species, [we] don't yet fully understand its natural distribution and migrations, and much more research is needed to better understand what the sighting in California means."
She hopes to begin tagging hoodwinker specimens to understand their movements in the ocean.