ocean sunfish

Also known as common mola, Mola mola, Sunfish

species of fish

AI overview

The ocean sunfish is a large, unusual fish species found in oceans around the world, recognizable by its flat, rounded body shape. It's notable as one of the heaviest bony fish in the ocean and plays a role in marine ecosystems, though it remains relatively understudied compared to other ocean species.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Species

Vulnerable

Common sunfish

Species

PhylumChordata
ClassTeleostei
OrderTetraodontiformes
FamilyMolidae

Habitatmarine

Observations: Very little is known about the longevity of sunfishes, though given their their large body size and reproductive output it is possibly they are long-lived. They can lay 300,000,000 eggs. Anecdotes suggest they can live more than 10 years in captivity, but possibly much longer (http://www.oceansunfish.org/).

via IUCN

Wikidata facts

Image: Mola mola.jpg

Show 6 more facts

Commons category: Mola mola
Commons gallery: Mola mola
taxon common name: samogłów
taxon name: Mola mola
sequenced genome URL: www.ensembl.org/Mola_mola
short name: M. mola

Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~19 min read

Article

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 five 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 (175-180 cm, or about 5’9-5’11) when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.

Many areas of sunfish biology remain poorly understood, including mating practices and spawning locations, early life stages, movement and migration patterns, population structure and status, diet and trophic ecology, and post-release survival rates, 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.