BODEGA BAY, Calif.– Reports of sharks swimming near a jetty over the weekend at a California beach ended up with the discovery of an unusual type of fish.
Instead of sharks, the creatures were sunfish, a type of large open-water fish, according to Sonoma County Regional Parks .
The specific sunfish spotted was a rare one, known as a mola tecta, a sunfish only formally identified in 2017.
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Commonly known as a hoodwinker sunfish, they're often mistaken for mola mols, a more common type of sunfish.
Both species are found in the Pacific Ocean, according to the Marine Education & Research Society .
Sonoma County Regional Parks said one of the sunfish didn't survive and washed up on the beach in Doran Regional Park over the