Actually, no, it isn’t.
(But we weren’t the first well-intentioned folks to make this mistake.)
SO WHAT IS IT?!
It’s an ocean sunfish! We first encountered this crazy, giant fish the other day, right before a storm rolled in. The water was darker than usual, and visibility was low. Concerned that the large creature we could almost see beneath the surface of the water might be some kind of a mammal in distress (it floats at the top and occasionally flaps a pathetic flipper), Meg and I headed out in the row boat to investigate. My wife brought a pocket knife (in case we needed to free the would-be mammal from a net or something), and I didn’t bring my camera (because “THERE IS NO TIME; WE MUST SAVE IT”), and it was only after we instructed some other people whom we passed by to, “CALL THE COAST GUARD!” that we realized we were bearing witness to a regular, non-distressed, totally healthy ocean sunfish (at which point I wished I could take a picture).
Luckily for everyone, we got to have a second up-close-and-personal encounter with another Mola Mola today. The kids were delighted. Jasper and his friend Julian took the kayaks out while Zeb and I (with camera, this time) spectated from the dinghy.
What a strange, strange fish.
The ocean sunfish waves goodbye.