The find was made even more remarkable by the fact that the species had been so difficult to locate, hence the name “hoodwinker.” As Marianne, the scientist who discovered the species in 2017, said, “The fish managed to stay out of sight and out of everyone’s attention…so it was hoodwinking us all.” The excitement and wonder of this discovery was evident in the photograph of Thomas Turner, an evolutionary biologist, who had his wife capture a shot of him stretching his arms out to demonstrate the fish’s incredible size.
The discovery of this hoodwinker sunfish washed up on the shores of California left many marine biologists and researchers scratching their heads. How did this one fish end up so far from its natural habitat below the equator? This was an unusual occurrence that had everyone wondering about the possible explanations. Theorizing that there could be a never-before-discovered population of hoodwinker sunfish off the coast of California, which would change so much of what is currently known about this elusive species. Marianne Nyegaard, was excited at the possibility of further research and discovery in this area.