Surprising Encounters on Florida Timeshare Vacation

For anyone headed to a Florida timeshare vacation for Spring Break, beware… there are some interesting creatures washing on shore. The fish shown in the photo here is known as a ‘mola mola’ although you may be more familiar with it by its more common name of ‘sunfish.’ Whatever you think a sunfish looks like, it is probably not this. These fish are gray in color, typically as tall as they are long, and are known to reach amazing sizes.

If the prehistoric appearance of these sunfish isn’t enough to be disturbing, when you realize that the two that have recently beached themselves on Florida’s east coast each weighed hundreds of pounds, you understand why they have drawn so much attention. The first beached sunfish appeared a few weeks ago on a Brevard County beach (New Smyrna Beach area) and was estimated to be at least two hundred pounds in size. Then this week, beachgoers were taken aback when an 800-pound sunfish appeared on the shore. Although a group of vacationers tried to rescue it and somehow succeeded in pushing it back out to sea, the declining fish appeared the following morning on the beach, gasping for its final breaths.

Sunfish Won’t Ruin Your Florida Timeshare Vacation

For many, sunfish are an interesting anomaly of nature. But if you find them too off-putting, don’t be concerned that you are likely to run into one during your Florida timeshare vacation. Typically, sunfish stay in open waters, and don’t usually venture into waters colder than about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Prolonged exposure to water temperatures below 55 degrees almost always leads to disorientation and death among these giant sea creatures. Experts speculate that atypically cold water currents are responsible for the death of the two that appeared on New Smyrna Beach.

While they pose no threat to swimmers, their size has been known to damage boats in an encounter, or to injure people if the fish accidently jump onboard. One of the largest sunfish known is a 1910 record of one that was estimated to be 3500 pounds in size.

More on New Smyrna Beach timeshare resales.

Image credit: Photo source: Wikipedia