Doran Beach is a pillar of Sonoma County, welcoming many campers, fishermen, and beachgoers daily. Earlier this month, an unexpected visitor arrived on its shores.
“I was picking up something, and when I looked to my left, there was this giant thing lying on the beach. I was like, this is too weird. It doesn’t look like a fish I knew,” said Stefan Kiesbye, a Sonoma State Creative Writing Professor.
After driving his wife to the airport in the early morning, Kiesbye decided to stop by and pick up trash, a task that originally began as part of his Faculty Community Service at Sonoma State but quickly turned into a weekly hobby. That morning, he happened to be walking around Doran Beach with his two trash bags when he saw the fish.
Kiesbye wasn’t the first to come across the sea creature. The fish had washed ashore at least two days prior and battled the tides before beaching.
“One of my colleagues saw it when it was still in the water. Throughout the day, it got closer and closer until it washed ashore,” said Matt Hyles, supervising park ranger for Doran Regional Park’s coastal district.
Doran Park staff reached out to an expert in the field, who then confirmed the fish was a mola tecta, also known as the hoodwinker sunfish, a new species discovered in 2017 by Marine Biologist Marianne Nyegaard. Primarily found in the Southern Hemisphere, it traveled a long way from home to greet our shores.
Hyles shared that it’s rare to see such a fish wash ashore. He has worked at Doran for about six years and has only ever heard of one incident with a sunfish back in 2020. That sunfish was native to the region, so seeing a hoodwinker sunfish was a sight to behold.
“It’s this giant, strange fish. I was feeling really awed by just finding something like that, and being able to see it when I’m not a diver, it was just beautiful,” stated Kiesbye.
The hoodwinker sunfish caused quite a splash, earning coverage from local and national outlets, like the Press Democrat, which originally broke the story, and People Magazine. Hyles also stated that there were people who made special trips to come out and see the hoodwinker sunfish.
“Whether it’s that Hemingway story or Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, there’s just something about a big fish that draws people,” said Austin Murphy, general assignment reporter for The Press Democrat.
