4,400-pound sunfish caught off North Africa literally tips the scales

4,400-pound sunfish caught off North Africa literally tips the scales | Neanderthals may have lived near Princess Diana's childhood home 40,000 years ago | World's biggest underwater eruption birthed skyscraper-size volcano Created for {EMAIL} | [Web Version]( October 20, 2021 CONNECT WITH LIVESCIENCE  [Facebook]( [Twitter](  [LIVESCIENCE]( [LIVESCIENCE]( Amazing science every day [SIGN UP]( ⋅ [WEBSITE](  [] Top Science News [] [4,400-pound sunfish caught off North Africa literally tips the scales]( [4,400-pound sunfish caught off North Africa literally tips the scales]( (Reuters / Seville University) Fishers recently hauled up a surprising catch off the coast of North Africa: a colossal ocean sunfish weighing an incredible 4,400 pounds (2,000 kilograms). At least that's how heavy marine biologists estimated the mammoth fish to be, based on its girth and the dimensions of sunfish that had previously been captured and weighed. "We tried to put it on the 1,000-kilogram (2,200 pounds) scale, but it was too heavy," marine biologist Enrique Ostale told Reuters. "It would've broken it." Full Story: [Live Science]( (10/20) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] History & Archaeology [] [Neanderthals may have lived near Princess Diana's childhood home 40,000 years ago]( [Neanderthals may have lived near Princess Diana's childhood home 40,000 years ago]( (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images) The first inhabitants of the estate of the late Princess Diana may have been Neanderthals. An archaeological dig at Althorp, where Diana Spencer grew up, has turned up an ancient trash pile containing decorated seashells dating back 40,000 years, according to The Telegraph. "We don't think the shells would have been the remnants of a prehistoric meal, as Althorp was even further from the sea then than it is today," excavation leader Roger Michel, director of the Institute for Digital Archaeology, told the newspaper. "They are also incised. They could have been used for decoration or as spurs of mother of pearl for jewellery." Full Story: [Live Science]( (10/19) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Amazing Earth [] [World's biggest underwater eruption birthed skyscraper-size volcano]( [World's biggest underwater eruption birthed skyscraper-size volcano]( (Poncelet C. and C. Scalabrin, IFREMER) In 2018, the largest active underwater eruption ever recorded birthed a giant "baby": a skyscraper-size underwater volcano, a new study finds. Scientists discovered the 2,690-foot-tall (820 meters) volcano in the western Indian Ocean, off Madagascar, following a puzzling spate of earthquakes that struck near what is normally a seismically quiet area. After collecting geological data, including information from a 2019 underwater survey of the region, the team realized that there was a new submarine volcano about 1.5 times the height of New York's One World Trade Center. What's more, this new "baby" draws from the deepest volcanic magma reservoir known to scientists. Full Story: [Live Science]( (10/20) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Astronomy & Astrophysics [] [Scientists create most detailed map of Uranus' mysterious auroras]( [Scientists create most detailed map of Uranus' mysterious auroras]( (University of Leicester) Scientists have imaged the whole globe of Uranus in the infrared part of the light spectrum for the first time, hoping to shed light on the planet's mysterious auroras and weird magnetic field. The British-led team did so during a three-day campaign that was livestreamed publicly last week for the whole world to see. The scientists, based at the University of Leicester in the U.K., used NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Hawaii to look at the odd ice giant that orbits the sun 19 times farther away than Earth does. Full Story: [Live Science]( (10/20) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Curious Creatures [] [Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' are being sterilized because the population is out of control]( [Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' are being sterilized because the population is out of control]( (Photo by Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Wildlife officials in Colombia have begun sterilizing the so-called cocaine hippos that once belonged to the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. This measure will ensure that the hippo population doesn't keep growing, which could degrade river ecosystems and threaten native wildlife and people. The hippo herd now includes an estimated 80 individuals, and they inhabit the marshy river networks near Medellín, Colombia, where Escobar once kept his Hacienda Nápoles estate and where he maintained a private zoo. Four hippos escaped from the zoo in 1993 after police killed Escobar, and the invasive animals, which were deemed too dangerous to capture, quickly adapted to their new home and have been breeding in the wild ever since, Live Science previously reported. Full Story: [Live Science]( (10/20) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [Extremely rare, bright-yellow catfish caught in the Netherlands]( [Extremely rare, bright-yellow catfish caught in the Netherlands]( (Martin Glatz) Like an enormous, writhing banana with gills, a bright-yellow catfish flopped out of the water and into Martin Glatz's boat. Glatz, a professional angler out on a lake in the Netherlands with his twin brother Oliver, had caught many catfish in his life — but none like this. Glatz panicked at first. "I have never seen such a catfish before," Glatz told Live Science in a direct message. "I am still overwhelmed by it." Full Story: [Live Science]( (10/20) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Daily Quiz [] POLL QUESTION: Where did the Reign of Terror (1793-1794) take place? (Learn the answer [here]() [Vote]( [Germany]( [Vote]( [France]( [Vote]( [Russia]( [Vote]( [Spain](   [Sign Up]( | [Update Profile]( | [Unsubscribe]( [Privacy Policy]( | [Cookies Policy]( | [Terms and Conditions]( CONTACT US: [FEEDBACK](mailto:livescience@smartbrief.com) | [ADVERTISE]( © Future US, Inc. 555 11th ST NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20004