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Ocean sunfish
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Ocean sunfish
The ocean sunfish (Mola mola), also known as the common mola, is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It is the type species of the genus Mola, and one of three extant species in the family Molidae. It was formerly misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which is actually a different and closely related species of sunfish, Mola alexandrini. Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1,000 kg (545 and 2,205 lb). It is native to tropical and temperate waters around the world. It resembles a fish head without a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.
Many areas of sunfish biology remain poorly understood,[needs update] and various research efforts are underway, including aerial surveys of populations, satellite surveillance using pop-off satellite tags, genetic analysis of tissue samples, and collection of amateur sighting data.
Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, killer whales, and sharks will consume them. Sunfish are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, including Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. In the European Union, regulations ban the sale of fish and fishery products derived from the family Molidae. Sunfish are frequently caught in gillnets.
Its common English name, sunfish, refers to the animal's habit of sunbathing at the surface of the sea.[citation needed] Its common names in Dutch, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Russian, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, and German (maanvis, peixe lua, Poisson lune, pez luna, peix lluna, Pesce luna, рыба-луна, φεγγαρόψαρο, holdhal, månefisk and Mondfisch, respectively) mean "moon fish", in reference to its rounded shape. In German, the fish is also known as Schwimmender Kopf, or "swimming head". In Polish, it is named samogłów, meaning "head alone" or "only head", because it has no true tail. In Swedish and Danish it is known as klumpfisk, in Dutch klompvis, in Finnish möhkäkala, all of which mean "lump fish". The Chinese translation of its academic name is 翻車魚; fān chē yú, meaning "toppled wheel fish". Many of the sunfish's various names allude to its flattened shape.[citation needed]
French polymath Guillaume Rondelet wrote about the ocean sunfish in his 1554 work de Piscibus, using the term Orthagoriscus, "sucking pig" for the likeness of its body and mouth. It was originally classified in the pufferfish family as Tetraodon mola, its epithet mola is Latin for "millstone", which the fish resembles because of its gray color, rough texture, and rounded body. It is now placed in its own genus Mola and family name Molidae as the type species with two other species: Mola tecta and M. alexandrini (previously known as Mola ramsayi). Extinct relatives of Mola mola lived in the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. However, the earliest known fossil remains of Mola mola itself were found in archaeological middens dating to the Holocene epoch.
The common name "sunfish" without qualifier is used to describe the marine family Molidae and the freshwater sunfish in the family Centrarchidae, which is unrelated to Molidae. On the other hand, the name "ocean sunfish" and "mola" refer only to the family Molidae.
The ocean sunfish shares many traits common to members in the order Tetraodontiformes , including pufferfish, porcupinefish, and filefish , like having a beak formed from four fused teeth; sunfish fry resemble spiky pufferfish more than they resemble adult molas.
The caudal fin of the ocean sunfish is replaced by a rounded clavus, creating the body's distinct truncated shape. The body is flattened laterally, giving it a long oval shape when seen head-on. The pectoral fins are small and fan-shaped, while the dorsal fin and the anal fin are lengthened, often making the fish as tall as it is long. Specimens up to 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) in height have been recorded.
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Ocean sunfish
The ocean sunfish (Mola mola), also known as the common mola, is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It is the type species of the genus Mola, and one of three extant species in the family Molidae. It was formerly misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which is actually a different and closely related species of sunfish, Mola alexandrini. Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1,000 kg (545 and 2,205 lb). It is native to tropical and temperate waters around the world. It resembles a fish head without a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.
Many areas of sunfish biology remain poorly understood,[needs update] and various research efforts are underway, including aerial surveys of populations, satellite surveillance using pop-off satellite tags, genetic analysis of tissue samples, and collection of amateur sighting data.
Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, killer whales, and sharks will consume them. Sunfish are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, including Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. In the European Union, regulations ban the sale of fish and fishery products derived from the family Molidae. Sunfish are frequently caught in gillnets.
Its common English name, sunfish, refers to the animal's habit of sunbathing at the surface of the sea.[citation needed] Its common names in Dutch, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Russian, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, and German (maanvis, peixe lua, Poisson lune, pez luna, peix lluna, Pesce luna, рыба-луна, φεγγαρόψαρο, holdhal, månefisk and Mondfisch, respectively) mean "moon fish", in reference to its rounded shape. In German, the fish is also known as Schwimmender Kopf, or "swimming head". In Polish, it is named samogłów, meaning "head alone" or "only head", because it has no true tail. In Swedish and Danish it is known as klumpfisk, in Dutch klompvis, in Finnish möhkäkala, all of which mean "lump fish". The Chinese translation of its academic name is 翻車魚; fān chē yú, meaning "toppled wheel fish". Many of the sunfish's various names allude to its flattened shape.[citation needed]
French polymath Guillaume Rondelet wrote about the ocean sunfish in his 1554 work de Piscibus, using the term Orthagoriscus, "sucking pig" for the likeness of its body and mouth. It was originally classified in the pufferfish family as Tetraodon mola, its epithet mola is Latin for "millstone", which the fish resembles because of its gray color, rough texture, and rounded body. It is now placed in its own genus Mola and family name Molidae as the type species with two other species: Mola tecta and M. alexandrini (previously known as Mola ramsayi). Extinct relatives of Mola mola lived in the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. However, the earliest known fossil remains of Mola mola itself were found in archaeological middens dating to the Holocene epoch.
The common name "sunfish" without qualifier is used to describe the marine family Molidae and the freshwater sunfish in the family Centrarchidae, which is unrelated to Molidae. On the other hand, the name "ocean sunfish" and "mola" refer only to the family Molidae.
The ocean sunfish shares many traits common to members in the order Tetraodontiformes , including pufferfish, porcupinefish, and filefish , like having a beak formed from four fused teeth; sunfish fry resemble spiky pufferfish more than they resemble adult molas.
The caudal fin of the ocean sunfish is replaced by a rounded clavus, creating the body's distinct truncated shape. The body is flattened laterally, giving it a long oval shape when seen head-on. The pectoral fins are small and fan-shaped, while the dorsal fin and the anal fin are lengthened, often making the fish as tall as it is long. Specimens up to 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) in height have been recorded.
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