Renowned big-wave surfer and freediver Mark Healey has shared video showing him using a brush to remove parasites from a Mola mola, or ocean sunfish.
“It kept coming back for more and could’ve probably done it all day,” Healey said via Instagram. “Those parasites are pretty buried in there, but I think I made a little headway with the boat brush.”
In the footage, under the title, “Healey’s Thai Massage,” one of the crew describes the ghostly white, oddly shaped sunfish as “an alien.”
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Ocean sunfish are the world’s heaviest bony fish and can weigh up to 5,000 pounds. Their massive bodies are flat and their tail sections are truncated. The gentle giants roam tropical and temperate oceans preying on items such as jellies, squid, and algae.
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Healey stated that surfacing molas will sometimes turn on their sides to allow gulls to remove their parasites.
Among the Instagram comments was this from fellow wave rider Michael Stewart: “It’s a cool moment when human and non-human earthlings connect.”
