Misplaced Pages

Ocean sunfish

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Mola mola) Species of fish This article is about the ocean sunfish, Mola mola. For other fish known as "sunfish", see Sunfish (disambiguation).

Ocean sunfish
Temporal range: Middle Holocene–present (5,941–0 YBP)
Conservation status

Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)

Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Family: Molidae
Genus: Mola
Species: M. mola
Binomial name
Mola mola
(Linnaeus, 1758)
IUCN distribution of the ocean sunfish   Extant (resident)
Synonyms
List

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 once misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which was 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, 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.

Naming

The ocean sunfish is one of the largest bony fish. It has a flattened body and is as tall as it is long.

Its common English name, sunfish, refers to the animal's habit of sunbathing at the surface of the sea. 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.

Taxonomy

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.

Description

A sunfish fry, which still possesses spines that will later disappear
A skeleton, showing the structure of the fins

It 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.

The mature ocean sunfish has an average length of 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) and a fin-to-fin length of 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in). The weight of mature specimens can range from 247 to 1,000 kg (545 to 2,205 lb), but even larger individuals are not unheard of. The maximum size recorded is 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) in length, and maximum weight recorded is 2,300 kg (5,100 lb).

The spinal column of M. mola contains fewer vertebrae and is shorter in relation to the body than that of any other fish. Although the sunfish descended from bony ancestors, its skeleton contains largely cartilaginous tissues, which are lighter than bone, allowing it to grow to sizes impractical for other bony fishes. Its teeth are fused into a beak-like structure, which prevents them from being able to fully close their mouths, while also having pharyngeal teeth located in the throat.

The sunfish lacks a swim bladder. Some sources indicate the internal organs contain a concentrated neurotoxin, tetrodotoxin, like the organs of other poisonous tetraodontiformes, while others dispute this claim.

Fins

In the course of its evolution, the caudal fin (tail) of the sunfish disappeared, to be replaced by a lumpy pseudotail, the clavus. This structure is formed by the convergence of the dorsal and anal fins, and is used by the fish as a rudder. The smooth-denticled clavus retains 11–14 fin rays and terminates in a number of rounded ossicles.

Ocean sunfish often swim near the surface, and their protruding dorsal fins are sometimes mistaken for those of sharks. However, the two can be distinguished by the motion of the fin. Unlike most fish, the sunfish swings its dorsal fin and anal fin in a characteristic sculling motion.

Skin

Adult sunfish range from brown to silvery-grey or white, with a variety of region-specific mottled skin patterns. Coloration is often darker on the dorsal surface, fading to a lighter shade ventrally as a form of countershading camouflage. M. mola also exhibits the ability to vary skin coloration from light to dark, especially when under attack. The skin, which contains large amounts of reticulated collagen, can be up to 7.3 cm (2+3⁄4 in) thick on the ventral surface, and is covered by denticles and a layer of mucus instead of scales. The skin on the clavus is smoother than that on the body, where it can be as rough as sandpaper.

More than 40 species of parasites may reside on the skin and internally, motivating the fish to seek relief in a number of ways. One of the most frequent ocean sunfish parasites is the flatworm Accacoelium contortum.

In temperate regions, drifting kelp fields harbor cleaner wrasses and other fish which remove parasites from the skin of visiting sunfish. In the tropics, M. mola solicits cleaning help from reef fishes. By basking on its side at the surface, the sunfish also allows seabirds to feed on parasites from its skin. Sunfish have been reported to breach, clearing the surface by approximately 3 m (10 ft), in an apparent effort to dislodge embedded parasites.

Distribution and habitat

Characteristic horizontal basking behavior

Ocean sunfish are native to the temperate and tropical waters of every ocean in the world. Mola genotypes appear to vary widely between the Atlantic and Pacific, but genetic differences between individuals in the Northern and Southern hemispheres are minimal.

Although early research suggested sunfish moved around mainly by drifting with ocean currents (which has resulted in the sunfish sometimes being characterized as a megaplankton), individuals have been recorded swimming 26 km (16 mi) in a day at a cruising speed of 3.2 km/h (1.7 kn). While this might be the case most of the time, they are also capable of moving rapidly when feeding or avoiding predators, to the extent that they can vertically leap out of water. Contrary to the perception that the fish spend much of their time basking at the surface, M. mola adults actually spend a large portion of their lives actively hunting at depths greater than 200 m (660 ft), occupying both the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones. Sunfish are most often found in water warmer than 10 °C (50 °F); prolonged periods spent in water at temperatures of 12 °C (54 °F) or lower can lead to disorientation and eventual death. Surface basking behavior, in which a sunfish swims on its side, presenting its largest profile to the sun, may be a method of "thermally recharging" following dives into deeper, colder water in order to feed. Sightings of the fish in colder waters outside of its usual habitat, such as those southwest of England, may be evidence of increasing marine temperatures.

Sunfish are usually found alone, but occasionally in pairs.

Feeding

The diet of the ocean sunfish was formerly thought to consist primarily of various jellyfish. However, genetic analysis reveals that sunfish are actually generalist predators that consume mostly small fish, fish larvae, squid, and crustaceans, with jellyfish and salps making up only around 15% of the diet. Occasionally they will ingest eel grass. This range of food items indicates that the sunfish feeds at many levels, from the surface to deep water, and occasionally down to the seafloor in some areas.

Life cycle

Ocean sunfish may live up to ten years in captivity, but their lifespan in a natural habitat has not yet been determined. Their growth rate remains undetermined. However, a young specimen at the Monterey Bay Aquarium increased in weight from 26 to 399 kg (57 to 880 lb) and reached a height of nearly 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) in 15 months.

The sheer size and thick skin of an adult of the species deters many smaller predators, but younger fish are vulnerable to predation by bluefin tuna and mahi mahi. Adults are consumed by orca, sharks and sea lions.

The mating practices of the ocean sunfish are poorly understood, but spawning areas have been suggested in the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian oceans. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate, up to 300 million at a time. Sunfish eggs are released into the water and externally fertilized by sperm.

Newly hatched sunfish larvae are only 2.5 mm (3⁄32 in) long and weigh less than one gram. They develop into fry that resemble miniature pufferfish, their close relatives. Sunfish fry do not have the large pectoral fins and tail fin of their adult forms, but they have body spines uncharacteristic of adult sunfish, that disappear as they grow. Young sunfish school for protection, but this behavior is abandoned as they grow. The fry that survive can grow up to 60 million times their original weight before reaching adult proportions, arguably the most extreme size growth of any vertebrate animal.

Genome

In 2016, researchers from China National Genebank and A*STAR Singapore, including Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner, sequenced the genome of the ocean sunfish and discovered several genes which might explain its fast growth rate and large body size. As member of the order Tetraodontiformes, like fugu, the sunfish has quite a compact genome, at 730 Mb in size. Analysis from this data suggests that sunfish and pufferfishes diverged approximately 68 million years ago, which corroborates the results of other recent studies based on smaller datasets.

Human interaction

A sunfish caught in 1910, with an estimated weight of 1,600 kg (3,500 lb)

Despite their size, ocean sunfish are docile and pose no threat to human divers. Injuries from sunfish are rare, although a slight danger exists from large sunfish leaping out of the water onto boats. In 2005, a 1 metre (3 feet 3 inches)-long sunfish landed on a 4-year-old boy when the fish leaped onto the boy's family's boat off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. Areas where they are commonly found are popular destinations for sport dives, and sunfish at some locations have reportedly become familiar with divers. They are more of a problem to boaters than to swimmers, as they can pose a hazard to watercraft due to their large size and weight. Collisions with sunfish are common in some parts of the world and can cause damage to the hull of a boat, or to the propellers of larger ships, as well as to the fish.

The flesh of the ocean sunfish is considered a delicacy in some regions, the largest markets being Taiwan and Japan. All parts of the sunfish are used in cuisine, from the fins to the internal organs. Some parts are used in some areas of traditional medicine. Fishery products derived from sunfish are forbidden in the European Union according to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as they contain toxins that are harmful to human health.

Sunfish are accidentally but frequently caught in drift gillnet fisheries, making up nearly 30% of the total catch of the swordfish fishery employing drift gillnets in California. The bycatch rate is even higher for the Mediterranean swordfish industry, with 71% to 90% of the total catch being sunfish.

A decrease in sunfish populations may be caused by more frequent bycatch and the increasing popularity of sunfish in human diet. The fishery bycatch and destruction of ocean sunfish are unregulated worldwide. In some areas, the fish are "finned" by fishermen who regard them as worthless bait thieves; this process, in which the fins are cut off, results in the eventual death of the fish, because it can no longer propel itself without its dorsal and anal fins. The species is also threatened by floating litter such as plastic bags which resemble jellyfish, a common prey item. Bags can choke and suffocate a fish or fill its stomach to the extent that it starves.

In art

Patterns of this fish, known as kebuku, are seen in sarongs worn by women in Lamalera, a village in the island of Lembata, in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia.

In captivity

A tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium provides a size comparison between an ocean sunfish and humans.

Sunfish are not widely held in aquarium exhibits, due to the unique and demanding requirements of their care. Some Asian aquaria display them, particularly in Japan. The Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka is one of few aquaria with Mola mola on display, where it is reportedly as popular an attraction as the larger whale sharks. The Lisbon Oceanarium in Portugal has ocean sunfish showcased in the main tank, and sunfish are also on display at the Denmark Nordsøen Oceanarium.

In Kamogawa Sea World the ocean sunfish named Kukey, who started captivity in 1982, set a world record for captivity for 2,993 days, living for eight years. Kukey was 72 cm (2.36 ft) at the time of delivery, but was 187 cm (6.14 ft) in size at the time of death.

Video of an ocean sunfish at the Lisbon Oceanarium

While the first ocean sunfish to be held in an aquarium in the United States is said to have arrived at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in August 1986, other specimens have previously been held at other locations. Marineland of the Pacific, closed since 1987 and located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, California, held at least one ocean sunfish by 1961, and in 1964 held a 290-kilogram (650 lb) specimen, said to be the largest ever captured at that time. However, another 450-kilogram (1,000 lb) specimen was brought alive to Marineland Studios Aquarium, near St. Augustine, Florida, in 1941.

Because sunfish had not been kept in captivity on a large scale before, the staff at Monterey Bay was forced to innovate and create their own methods for capture, feeding, and parasite control. By 1998, these issues were overcome, and the aquarium was able to hold a specimen for more than a year, later releasing it after its weight increased by more than 14 times. Mola mola has since become a permanent feature of the Open Sea exhibit. Monterey Bay Aquarium's largest sunfish specimen was euthanized on February 14, 2008, after an extended period of poor health.

A major concern to curators is preventive measures taken to keep specimens in captivity from injuring themselves by rubbing against the walls of a tank, since ocean sunfish cannot easily maneuver their bodies. In a smaller tank, hanging a vinyl curtain has been used as a stopgap measure to convert a cuboid tank to a rounded shape and prevent the fish from scraping against the sides. A more effective solution is simply to provide enough room for the sunfish to swim in wide circles. The tank must also be sufficiently deep to accommodate the vertical height of the sunfish, which may reach 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in).

Feeding captive sunfish in a tank with faster-moving, more aggressive fish can also present a challenge. Eventually, the fish can be taught to respond to a floating target to be fed, and to take food from the end of a pole or from human hands.

References

  1. ^ Porcasi, Judith F.; Andrews, Sherri L. (7 July 2001). "Evidence for a Prehistoric Mola mola Fishery on the Southern California Coast" (PDF). Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. 23 (1): 51–66. JSTOR 27825752. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  2. Liu, J.; Zapfe, G.; Shao, K.-T.; Leis, J.L.; Matsuura, K.; Hardy, G.; Liu, M.; Robertson, R.; Tyler, J. (2016) . "Mola mola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T190422A97667070. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  3. "IUCN Red List of threatened species includes ocean sunfish". The Japan Times. Japan. The Japan Times, Ltd. (株式会社ジャパンタイムズ). 19 November 2015. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  4. "Mola mola". NatureServe Explorer. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  5. van der Land, Jacob (7 December 2021) . Bailly, Nicolas (ed.). "Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  6. ^ Thys, Tierney. "Molidae Descriptions and Life History". OceanSunfish.org. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
  7. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Molidae". FishBase. March 2013 version.
  8. Sawai, Etsuro; Yamanoue, Yusuke; Nyegaard, Marianne & Sakai, Yoichi (5 December 2017) . "Redescription of the bump-head sunfish Mola alexandrini (Ranzani 1839), senior synonym of Mola ramsayi (Giglioli 1883), with designation of a neotype for Mola mola (Linnaeus 1758) (Tetraodontiformes: Molidae)". Ichthyological Research. 65. Springer Science+Business Media: 142–160. doi:10.1007/s10228-017-0603-6.
  9. ^ "Current Research". Large Pelagics Research Lab. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20.
  10. ^ Thys, Tierney. "Ongoing Research". OceanSunfish.org. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
  11. "Have you seen a Mola??". Large Pelagics Research Lab. Archived from the original on 2011-09-01.
  12. ^ "Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin". Eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
  13. Rondelet, Guillaume (1554). Libri de piscibus marinis in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae sunt. Lyon: Mathias Bonhomme. p. 424.
  14. Gudger, Eugene W.; MacDonald, Samuel M. (November 1935). "The Rarest of the Ocean Sunfishes". The Scientific Monthly. 41 (5): 396–408. JSTOR 16070.
  15. Parenti, Paolo (September 2003). "Family Molidae Bonaparte 1832: molas or ocean sunfish" (PDF). Annotated Checklist of Fishes (Electronic Journal). 18. ISSN 1545-150X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  16. Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879). "mola". A Latin Dictionary. Perseus Digital Library.
  17. ^ Scharpf, Christopher; Lazara, Kenneth J. (12 June 2023). "Family TETRADONTIFORMES" (PDF). The ETYFish Project. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  18. Bass, L. Anna; Dewar, Heidi; Thys, Tierney; Streelman, J. Todd.; Karl, Stephen A. (July 2005). "Evolutionary divergence among lineages of the ocean sunfish family, Molidae (Tetraodontiformes)" (PDF). Marine Biology. 148 (2). Springer Science+Business Media: 405–414. Bibcode:2005MarBi.148..405B. doi:10.1007/s00227-005-0089-z. S2CID 30632282. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  19. "Evolution". Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  20. Thys, Tierney (2002). "Molidae information and research (Evolution)". OceanSunfish.org. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
  21. ^ Juliet Rowan (November 24, 2006). "Tropical sunfish visitor as big as a car". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  22. Watanabe, Yuuki; Sato, Katsufumi (2008-10-22). "Functional Dorsoventral Symmetry in Relation to Lift-Based Swimming in the Ocean Sunfish Mola mola". PLOS ONE. 3 (10): e3446. Bibcode:2008PLoSO...3.3446W. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003446. PMC 2562982. PMID 18941510.
  23. Nakatsubo, Toshiyuki; Kawachi, Masahiro; Mano, Nobuhiro; Hirose, Hitomi (2007), "Estimation of Maturation in Wild and Captive Ocean Sunfish Mola mola", 水産増殖 (in Japanese), 55 (2): 259–264, doi:10.11233/aquaculturesci1953.55.259, ISSN 0371-4217
  24. ^ McClain, Craig R.; Balk, Meghan A.; Benfield, Mark C.; Branch, Trevor A.; Chen, Catherine; Cosgrove, James; Dove, Alistair D.M.; Gaskins, Lindsay C.; Helm, Rebecca R. (2015-01-13). "Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna". PeerJ. 3: e715. doi:10.7717/peerj.715. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 4304853. PMID 25649000.
  25. ^ "Mola mola program - Life History". Large Pelagics Research Lab. Archived from the original on 2011-08-19.
  26. Adam Summers. "No Bones About 'Em". Natural History Magazine. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
  27. ^ Gomes-Pereira, José Nuno; Pham, Christopher K.; Miodonski, Joana; Santos, Marco A. R.; Dionísio, Gisela; Catarino, Diana; Nyegaard, Marianne; Sawai, Etsuro; Carreira, Gilberto P.; Afonso, Pedro (October 11, 2022). "The heaviest bony fish in the world: a 2744 kg giant sunfish Mola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839) from the North Atlantic". Journal of Fish Biology. 102 (1): 290–293. doi:10.1111/jfb.15244. PMID 36218082. S2CID 252816489.
  28. Bone, Quentin; Moore, Richard (2008). Biology of Fishes. Taylor & Francis US. p. 210. ISBN 978-0203885222.
  29. "Strange tail of the sunfish". The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2007-05-11.
  30. Johnson, G. David; Britz, Ralf (October 2005). "Leis' Conundrum: Homology of the Clavus of the Ocean Sunfishes. 2. Ontogeny of the Median Fins and Axial Skeleton of Ranzania laevis (Teleostei, Tetraodontiformes, Molidae)". Journal of Morphology. 266 (1): 11–21. doi:10.1002/jmor.10242. PMID 15549687. S2CID 43363353. We thus conclude that the molid clavus is unequivocally formed by modified elements of the dorsal and anal fin and that the caudal fin is lost in molids.
  31. ^ "Meet the ocean sunfish (Mola mola)". Monterey Bay Aquarium. Animals A to Z. Archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  32. ^ Parkinson, Kerryn (12 August 2023) . "Ocean Sunfish, Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758)". Australian Museum. Archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  33. ^ "Mola (Sunfish)". National Geographic. Archived from the original on November 14, 2006. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
  34. ^ Powell, David C. (2001). "21. Pelagic Fishes". A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer. Berkeley: University of California Press, Monterey Bay Aquarium. pp. 270–275. ISBN 978-0-520-22366-0. OCLC 44425533. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  35. Ahuir-Baraja, Ana Elena; Padrós, Francesc; Palacios-Abella, Jose Francisco; Raga, Juan Antonio; Montero, Francisco Esteban (15 October 2015). "Accacoelium contortum (Trematoda: Accacoeliidae) a trematode living as a monogenean: morphological and pathological implications". Parasites & Vectors. 8: 540. doi:10.1186/s13071-015-1162-1. ISSN 1756-3305. PMC 4608113. PMID 26471059.
  36. Thys, Tierney (2007). "Help Unravel the Mystery of the Ocean Sunfish". OceanSunfish.org. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
  37. ^ Thys, Tierney (30 November 2003). "Tracking Ocean Sunfish, Mola mola with Pop-Up Satellite Archival Tags in California Waters". OceanSunfish.org. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
  38. Coulombe, Deborah A. (1992). The Seaside Naturalist: A Guide to Study at the Seashore. Fireside Books. p. 236. ISBN 0-671-76503-5.
  39. Ireland, Tom. "Book Reviews | Planktonia: The nightly migration of the ocean's smallest creatures". The Biologist. Royal Society of Biology. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  40. ^ "Mola mola program - Preliminary results". Large Pelagics Research Lab. January 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20.
  41. "The Biogeography of Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola)". San Francisco State University Department of Geography. Fall 2000. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  42. Oliver, Mark & agencies (25 July 2006). "Warm Cornish waters attract new marine life". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
  43. "Giant sunfish washed up on Overstrand beach in Norfolk". BBC News Online. BBC. 10 December 2012. Archived from the original on 6 September 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  44. Sousa, Lara L.; Xavier, Raquel; Costa, Vânia; Humphries, Nicolas E.; Trueman, Clive; Rosa, Rui; Sims, David & Queiroz, Nuno (4 July 2016). "DNA barcoding identifies a cosmopolitan diet in the ocean sunfish" (PDF). Scientific Reports. 6 (1). Nature Portfolio: 28762. Bibcode:2016NatSR...628762S. doi:10.1038/srep28762. PMC 4931451. PMID 27373803. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  45. Freedman, Jonathan A.; Noakes, David L.G. (2002). "Why are there no really big bony fishes? A point-of-view on maximum body size in teleosts and elasmobranchs". Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. 12 (4): 403–416. doi:10.1023/a:1025365210414. S2CID 36649270.
  46. Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. "The Ocean Sunfishes or Headfishes". Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
  47. ^ Tierney Thys (February 2003). Swim with giant sunfish in the open ocean (Professional conference). Monterey, California, United States: Technology Entertainment Design. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  48. Wood, The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. Sterling Pub Co Inc. (1983), ISBN 978-0-85112-235-9
  49. Kooijman, S. A. L. M., & Lika, K. (2013). Resource allocation to reproduction in animals. Am. Nat. subm, 2(06).
  50. Pan H, Yu H, Ravi V, et al. (9 September 2016). "The genome of the largest bony fish, ocean sunfish (Mola mola), provides insights into its fast growth rate". GigaScience. 5 (1): 36. doi:10.1186/s13742-016-0144-3. PMC 5016917. PMID 27609345.
  51. "Boy struck by giant tropical fish". BBC. 28 August 2005. Archived from the original on 20 February 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  52. Lulham, Amanda (23 December 2006). "Giant sunfish alarm crews". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  53. Thys, Tierney. "Present Fishery/Conservation". Large Pelagics Lab. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20.
  54. Barnes, Ruth (1988). "Ikat Patterns Found in Lamalera". Ikat Textiles of Lamalera: A Study of an Eastern Indonesian Weaving Tradition. Studies in South Asian Culture. Vol. 14. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers. pp. 60–63. ISBN 90-04-08753-2. ISSN 0169-9865. LCCN 88024088. OCLC 18324163.
  55. ^ "Main Creature in Kaiyukan". Osaka Kaiyukan Aquarium. Archived from the original on May 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  56. "Ocean Sunfish". Oceanário de Lisboa. Lisbon. 7 March 2019. Archived from the original on 22 May 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  57. Nordsøen Oceanarium: The Open Sea. Archived 2015-07-05 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  58. "さかまた no92" (PDF). 鴨川シーワールド.
  59. "日本でマンボウに会える水族館は？マンボウはフグの仲間!? ヒレや泳ぎ方に注目！". るるぶKids. 4 December 2020.
  60. "Aquarium Timeline". Monterey Bay Aquarium. Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
  61. Caldwell, David K.; Brown, David H. (January–March 1964). "Notes on killer whales". Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. 63 (3). Los Angeles, California: Southern California Academy of Sciences: 137.
  62. Los Angeles Times. June 15, 1964. p. 3
  63. The Miami News, March 16, 1941, p. 5-C
  64. "Aquarium Euthanizes Its Largest Ocean Sunfish". KSBW. 14 February 2008. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
  65. Life in the slow lane. Monterey Bay Aquarium. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2010.

External links

Research and info

Images and videos

Taxon identifiers
Mola mola
Categories: