A rare marine visitor has been spotted swimming off the coast of Douglas this week.

Manuela Swiatek filmed and pictured a sunfish swimming and flapping on the service of the water just off Marine Drive. She shared her footage with the Manx Wildlife Trust and Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch on Facebook.

It is difficult to gauge the size of the animal as the video was taken from some distance away but sunfish (also known as mola mola) can grow to three metres and weigh over a tonne and are the largest bony fish in the world.

Clare Rogerson, marine conservation assistant and the Manx Wildlife Trust, said: ‘In brief terms, although not common, there are increasing reports of sunfish in UK southern and western waters.

‘They are a tropical and temperate species so capable of surviving in a wide range of locations. Around the Isle of Man they are only really likely to be spotted during the summer months.

‘The increase in sea temperatures associated with climate change may well mean that they become a more frequent sighting in the future.’

The ocean sunfish is odd-looking with a huge, flat and circular body - much like a giant swimming head. Instead of a tail, it has a stiff fringe of skin which can act like a ship's rudder.

It also has two small pectoral fins and an elongated dorsal fin and anal fin that look a bit like wings.

They are often spotted resting on their sides at the surface of the sea, supposedly basking in the sunshine - which is where its English name of sunfish comes from. It has been suggested that this basking behaviour is to help the sunfish raise its body temperature after diving down to cooler waters to feed.

Sunfish feed on jellyfish as well as a wide range of other animals. Smaller sunfish have the most varied diet - when they're under one metre in length.

Around half of their diet is jellyfish and the other half is a mix of species that live on the seafloor, like crustaceans, molluscs, and even some fish.

Ocean sunfish have a wide range and are found across tropical and temperate waters. They have been noted across the length of the Atlantic from Iceland to Chile.

In the UK, they're most commonly seen in summer months.