Ocean sunfish.

Where to find it.

Temperate and tropical oceans worldwide.

Also known as Mola, Common mola.

A closer look.

A tall, disc-shaped body with no true tail. Instead, the dorsal and anal fins merge into a rudder-like flap called the clavus. The skin is thick and rough, without scales, and the mouth is small with fused, beak-like teeth.

How it lives.

Sunfish dive deep to feed and then lie flat at the surface, apparently to warm up again, which is where the name comes from. Seabirds and small fish pick parasites off their skin.

The next generation.

One female was found to carry an estimated 300 million eggs, more than any other known vertebrate.

Conservation

Listed as Vulnerable, mainly because of high bycatch in driftnets and longlines.

Vulnerable — global IUCN assessment dated 7 June 2011. Regional populations can have a different status. View the Red List record ↗

In the margins.

• The heaviest bony fish ever recorded was a closely related species, Mola alexandrini: about 2,744 kg, found off the Azores in 2021.
• Bloch filed it under “Diodon mola”, together with the porcupinefish.