Scientists have finally discovered the new species of sunfish after being hidden for almost three centuries.

The gigantic fish, weighing almost two tonnes and three metres in length has been spotted in cold waters of New Zealand, southern Chile, South Africa and the southeast coast of Australia. It has been named Hoodwinker Sunfish. This is the world’s heaviest bony fish. Lead author Marianne Nyegaard from Murdoch University said that these fishes managed to escape the discovery for about three centuries as they are difficult to preserve and study even for natural history museums.

The last time a sunfish species was discovered was about 130 years ago called the Southern Ocean Sunfish. The sunfish species are hard to locate and track down because of their solitary nature. They prefer staying the darks of the ocean depth where it is hard to reach. To confirm that they had found a sunfish, the team of scientists collected about 27 samples from stranded sunfish. The researchers also went through old texts dating back to 16th century. As some important things about the sunfish species have been discovered, the researchers now plan to study its distribution and feeding habits through satellite.

The above case proves that ocean still has many mysteries to be unfolded.