Gigantic monster fish washes up on Australian shore, baffling locals

A gigantic fish washed up on the Australian shore Tuesday, March 6, 2018. (Riley Lindholm)

A monster-sized 330-pound fish was found washed up on the Australian shore last week.

John and Riley Lindholm from the Australian state of Victoria were walking on Moore Park Beach in southern Queensland when they came across the strange looking fish, ABC News reported.

John Lindholm, who has worked as a charter skipper most of his life, said he could not identify what type of fish it was.

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"I've seen a lot of fish, and a lot of big fish, but I've never seen anything like it," Lindholm told Australia's ABC News.

"I thought it might have been a groper, but looking at the head shape it still may be a groper, but it just doesn't seem to fit with what other people up here have told me,” he continued.

He estimated the fish weighed about 330 to 375 pounds.

“It was a big, big fish,” he said. Lindholm said the fish’s size shocked him.

“I've seen whales wash up on the beach but the size of this and the kind of fish it was, it took my breath away," he said.

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Lindholm said the fish did not appear to have been hit by a boat propeller and believes that it died naturally.

"I just think it may have reached the end of its lifespan and basically expired," he said.

Lindholm went back the next day to see the fish but it was gone.

The Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol said it worked with experts from the Queensland Museum to try and identify the monster fish. The organization determined the fish “appeared to be a Queensland groper.”

"How the fish came to be washed up on the beach and its cause of death also could not be determined," the Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol said.

The organization said it is prohibited to catch and possess the groper because it is a protected species.