Why does the ocean sunfish bask?

The first record of southern ocean sunfish, Mola ramsayi from Northern Oman Sea, Iran

The first record of southern ocean sunfish, Mola ramsayi from Northern Oman Sea, Iran

Diel movement patterns of ocean sunfish Mola mola off southern California

Ocean sunfish Mola mola are a seasonally common inhabitant of southern Californian waters, and comprise the largest bycatch component (29% of total catch) of the California drift gillnet fishery for swordfish. We used temperature and depth-sensing acoustic transmitters to quantify the fine-scale movement patterns of ocean sunfish near Santa Catalina Island, California. Eight ocean sunfish were ...

Functional Dorsoventral Symmetry in Relation to Lift-Based Swimming in the Ocean Sunfish Mola mola

The largest (up to 2 tons) and a globally distributed teleost--the ocean sunfish Mola mola--is commonly regarded as a planktonic fish because of its unusual shape including absence of caudal fin. This common view was recently questioned because the horizontal movements of the ocean sunfish tracked by acoustic telemetry were independent of ocean currents. However, direct information regarding th...

DNA barcoding identifies a cosmopolitan diet in the ocean sunfish

The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is the world's heaviest bony fish reaching a body mass of up to 2.3 tonnes. However, the prey M. mola consumes to fuel this prodigious growth remains poorly known. Sunfish were thought to be obligate gelatinous plankton feeders, but recent studies suggest a more generalist diet. In this study, through molecular barcoding and for the first time, the diet of sunfish ...