Giant sunfish washed up on Dunedin beach goes under the knife

A giant sunfish which washed up on a Dunedin beach last year has gone under the knife as experts look to learn its secrets.

The nearly two-metre-long fish took six people to carry it when it was first discovered at a Port Chalmers beach in October.

Now, staff at Otago Museum have begun the huge task of dissecting it for science.

Curator of natural science at Otago Museum, Emma Burns, said it's still early days for their work and they have only found out a few things so far.

"We have discovered the sunfish is a female," she told Seven Sharp hosts Hilary Barry and Jeremy Wells.

Burns said measurements have also been taken, with the sunfish coming in at an impressive 2m tall and 1.9m long.

"There is not much we know about this particular species of sunfish so it's very exciting."

Hilary was more interested in what it smelled like after being freshly thawed out from the freezer.

"It smells like a lucky day out when you have caught a few snapper, but if you like fish it isn’t a bad place to be," Burns replied.

Jeremy had a few name suggestions for the as-yet-unnamed fish: "How about Gaye, Agnes or Colleen?"

Burns seemed to take the names into consideration but didn't commit on camera.

For a closer look at the aquatic wonder, check out Seven Sharp's full story in the video above.