Locals baffled after monster fish washes up on beach

An enormous fish washed up on a beach in Central Queensland has left people baffled as to what the creature actually is.

John Lindholm and his wife Riley, from Victoria, were on holiday at Moore Park Beach, north of Bundaberg when they came across a washed-up fish.

Mr Lindholm, a charter skipper, told Yahoo7 it's the biggest fish he's encountered but added it wasn't one he'd come across before.

"It was more than five-feet long and almost one and a half times my weight," he said.

"I'm about 90kg and six-feet-tall. That fish was huge."

The skipper said it was a "peculiar find" too and couldn't determine how the fish had died.

"There wasn't anything of note to tell you how it was killed," he said.

"You normally can tell if it was hit by a propeller or a shark got to it but there was no indication."

Adding to the mystery, Mr Lindholm said he had no clue what species the fish was but said it could be a Queensland Groper.

"It looked like it could be a groper but the head is wrong," he said.

"I spoke with a guy from Moore Park Beach and he thinks it could be a tripletail."

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Mr Lindholm added that he doesn't believe it could be a Groper if it died from natural causes, because most species of the fish grow to more than 2.7 metres long and weigh more than 400kg, according to the Australian Museum. That's significantly bigger than the fish found on the beach.

However, Central Queensland University's agriculture research team is "unanimous" that the fish is a Queensland Groper.

Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol District Officer Geoffrey Fergusson said he also believed the fish is a Queensland Groper after consulting experts at the Queensland Museum.

In a written statement, he said it the fish's condition made it difficult to identify.

"How the fish came to be washed up on the beach and its cause of death also cannot be determined," he said.

"The Queensland Groper is a no-take species. In Queensland, catching and possessing this fish is prohibited.

"If accidentally caught, protected species should not be removed from the water. They should be immediately and carefully returned to the water."