Rare ocean sunfish weighing 1.5 tons washes ashore at Palu, Indonesia

Monster: Indonesian fishermen try to help a rare Ocean Sunfish after they found the sea creature had washed ashore in Palu, Central Sulawesi

    

Fishermen often exaggerate when boasting just how big their latest catch was.

But there was no need for these Indonesians who have got the pictures to prove they really did capture a true whopper.

For this monstrous sea creature weighs an incredible 1.5 tons and measures more than six feet long.

They didn't strictly catch it, however.

Instead, they found the rare Ocean Sunfish in a critical condition after it had washed ashore in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.

They tried to drag it back out to sea in the hope it might recover. But the tide repeatedly pulled it back and the fish eventually died.

Sunfish, or Mola Mola, are the heaviest bony fish in the world.

The largest specimens can reach 14ft vertically and 10ft horizontally, weighing nearly 5,000lb.

Sunfish develop their truncated, bullet-like shape because they are born with a back fin that never grows. Instead, it folds into itself.

Mola in Latin means 'millstone' and describes the sunfish's somewhat circular shape. They are a silvery color and have a rough skin texture.

They are found in temperate and tropical oceans around the world and are often mistaken for sharks when their huge dorsal fins emerge above the water.

Their teeth are fused into a beak-like structure and they are unable to fully close their relatively small mouths.