The Ocean Sunfish, scientifically known as Mola mola, possesses many peculiar characteristics. Its body is short and resembles an oval or circular shape; from a distance, it appears to have a large head with long fins both above and below.
The Ocean Sunfish lacks a true head. Despite its large size, its mouth is quite small, with two fused teeth in each jaw resembling a beak. This unique mouth structure means they cannot swallow large prey and primarily feed on small crustaceans and other planktonic organisms.
Although they have a massive stature (adult males typically measure about 3.5 meters in length and weigh around 1.7 tons), their truncated body structure results in weak swimming abilities. Most of the time, they allow their enormous bodies to drift freely with ocean currents. Adults often prefer to float on their sides. Sometimes, ocean currents carry them from tropical regions to temperate zones.
The Ocean Sunfish deserves the title of champion in the ocean world for its remarkable egg-laying capabilities. Although the gestation period lasts only three weeks, a female Ocean Sunfish can lay up to 300,000,000 (three hundred million) eggs at once. The eggs also drift along with ocean currents.
For most of their lives, they remain far from shore. Young Ocean Sunfish swim actively like other fish until they reach maturity, at which point they become “lazy” — preferring to drift along with the currents. Younger fish often gather in schools, but as they grow larger, they prefer to live alone, wandering across the vast oceans.
They are named “Ocean Sunfish” because it is believed they “sunbathe” on the ocean surface, often seen swimming sluggishly near the water’s surface.
Their dorsal and anal fins are long, tall, and located near the end of their bodies; the pectoral fins are small and round, and the tail fin is merely a narrow strip that provides little assistance in swimming. Their skin is thick, rough, and durable, with a gray or brown color on top and a lighter shade underneath.
