Sunfish ‘molar molar’ often become covered in parasites. In order to have these parasites removed they ‘offer’ themselves to gulls by floating/swimming on the surface of the sea and via their gills ‘squirting ’water vertically as the attraction for a meal to the gulls. From my own observations it seems that only Juvenile GBBGulls seem to ‘get the message’ at these latitudes, which, must be pretty frustrating for the poor sunfish.
Hopefully the pictures I took on a Sea Trust trip in 2006 show both parasites and the attraction technique. Perhaps this explains the behaviour blogged below.
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