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Spanish researchers free massive sunfish from tuna nets

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Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Spanish researchers shared video of a massive sunfish rescued from tuna nets that weighed at least 2,200 pounds -- and might weigh nearly twice that.

Researchers with the Estrecho Marine Biology Station of the University of Seville said the sunfish was found entangled in tuna nets Oct. 14 off the coast of Ceuta and it took two cranes to lift the fish out of the water to be freed from its predicament.

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The researchers said they attempted to weigh the fish, but their scale topped out at 2,200 pounds. They estimated the sunfish, the largest species of bony fish in the world, could weigh up to 4,000.

The sunfish, which measured 10.5 feet long and 9.5 feet wide, is believed to be the largest ever found in the region, the researchers said.

The sunfish was returned to the water and set free.

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