{"id":7442,"date":"2010-09-29T21:11:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-30T02:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=7442"},"modified":"2010-11-14T13:41:26","modified_gmt":"2010-11-14T18:41:26","slug":"giant-ocean-sunfish-in-wellfleets-chipmans-cove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=7442","title":{"rendered":"Giant Ocean Sunfish in Wellfleet&#8217;s Chipman&#8217;s Cove"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/sunfish-11-Nov-08-001-840.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7444\" title=\"sunfish 11 Nov 08 001 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/sunfish-11-Nov-08-001-480.jpg\" alt=\"sunfish 11 Nov 08 001 480\" width=\"480\" height=\"459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/sunfish-11-Nov-08-001-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/sunfish-11-Nov-08-001-480-300x286.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>Stranded Giant Ocean Sunfish on Cape Cod Beach<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\">Giant ocean sunfish (<em>Mola mola<\/em>) strand in the shallows of Cape Cod Bay each fall.\u00c2\u00a0 These enormous, seven-foot diameter creatures, the largest bony fish in the ocean, are exotic and impressive.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Four young boys joined Turtle Journal last October to examine an ocean sunfish that had washed ashore on a Mid-Cape bayside beach.\u00c2\u00a0 For background information on ocean sunfish and their strandings on Cape Cod, see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=1404\" target=\"_blank\">Exotic Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola)<\/a>, which includes a hyperlink to an interview on <em>Mola molas<\/em> by Mass Audubon&#8217;s Bob Prescott, director of the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n   google_ad_client = \"pub-6174531794045772\"; \/* TJ adds, 336x280, created 11\/14\/10 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"5313686105\"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7447\" title=\"mola mola 29 sep 10 000  480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mola-mola-29-sep-10-000-480.jpg\" alt=\"mola mola 29 sep 10 000  480\" width=\"480\" height=\"718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mola-mola-29-sep-10-000-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mola-mola-29-sep-10-000-480-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em>Large Dorsal Fin Pierces Chipman&#8217;s Cove<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\">This afternoon Turtle Journal visited Chipman&#8217;s Cove in Wellfleet Harbor as high tide flooded its salt marsh edges to check to see if any diamondback terrapins remained active or whether they had slipped into winter brumation.\u00c2\u00a0 The weather was early fall perfect with open sunshine and mid-70 temperatures.\u00c2\u00a0 If turtles were active in Wellfleet, they would be visible snorkeling in Chipman&#8217;s Cove.\u00c2\u00a0 We saw no sign of turtles, but as we watched,\u00c2\u00a0we\u00c2\u00a0spotted a prominent dorsal fin about a quarter mile across the cove.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mola-mola-29-sep-10-000b-480.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7445\" title=\"mola mola 29 sep 10 000b 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mola-mola-29-sep-10-000b-480.jpg\" alt=\"mola mola 29 sep 10 000b 480\" width=\"480\" height=\"731\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em>Prominent Dorsal Fin Splashes and Flails<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\">At first sight, we suspected either an ocean sunfish or perhaps a basking shark.\u00c2\u00a0 But as we continued to watch, we became more convinced it was a <em>Mola mola<\/em> until finally, the fish surfaced completely to confirm our assessment.<\/p>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/FC6VJsek2eg?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/FC6VJsek2eg?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em>Ocean Sunfish in Shallows of Chipman&#8217;s Cove<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\">The eratic movements we witnessed, as well as the slapping and flailing of the dorsal fin, were reported by an observer who reported another ocean sunfish in nearby Wellfleet Harbor about two weeks ago.\u00c2\u00a0 That ocean sunfish was discovered stranded several days later.\u00c2\u00a0 Turtle Journal alerted the <a href=\"http:\/\/nebshark.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">NEBShark<\/a> network and Mass Audubon&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.massaudubon.org\/Nature_Connection\/Sanctuaries\/Wellfleet\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 We will all continue to observe the area\u00c2\u00a0for the next few days in case the animal reappears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stranded Giant Ocean Sunfish on Cape Cod Beach Giant ocean sunfish (Mola mola) strand in the shallows of Cape Cod Bay each fall.\u00c2\u00a0 These enormous, seven-foot diameter creatures, the largest bony fish in the ocean, are exotic and impressive.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Four young boys joined Turtle Journal last October to examine an ocean sunfish that had washed ashore [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[824],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7442"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8035,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7442\/revisions\/8035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}