Real photograph Ocean sunfish
Mola mola
say it OH-shun SUN-fish
Why we love them
The ocean sunfish is one of the most wonderful and unusual fish in the sea. It looks like a giant swimming head with no tail — a huge, flat, silvery disc with tall fins on the top and bottom. Gentle and slow, it drifts through the warm and cool waters of oceans all around the world.
This gentle giant is one of the heaviest bony fish on the whole planet. The very biggest ocean sunfish ever found was about 3.3 metres long and weighed around 2,300 kilograms — heavier than a small car! Even ordinary grown-up sunfish can be taller than a doorway from fin tip to fin tip.
Ocean sunfish are famous for a very special record. A mother sunfish can carry more eggs than any other animal with a backbone — as many as 300 million tiny eggs at one time. Almost all of them are eaten by other sea creatures, so only a few will ever grow up into big, round adults.
Sunfish often lie flat on their side at the surface, soaking up the sunshine. Scientists think this warm sunbathing may help them heat up again after diving down into deep, cold water to look for food. They are carnivores, eating jellyfish and jelly-like animals along with small fish, squid, and other little sea creatures.
These calm, curious fish are completely harmless to people, but they do face some troubles. Sunfish are sometimes caught by accident in fishing nets, and they can mistake floating plastic bags for jellyfish and try to eat them. Today they are listed as vulnerable. Keeping the ocean clean and free of litter helps these huge, gentle sun-baskers keep drifting peacefully through the sea.
My home
Open ocean, ocean surface, deep sea
Where I live
Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, Antarctica, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Southern Ocean
What I eat
Jellyfish, salps, small fish, squid, crustaceans
How long I am
1.8–3.3 m
How heavy I am
247–1000 kg
The ocean sunfish is one of the heaviest bony fish in the whole world — the largest one ever found was about 3.3 metres long and weighed around 2,300 kilograms, heavier than a small car.
A mother sunfish can carry more eggs than any other animal with a backbone — up to about 300 million tiny eggs at one time.
Ocean sunfish love to lie flat at the surface and bask in the sunshine, which may help warm them up again after diving down into deep, cold water to find food.
Every ocean sunfish can feel happy, scared and loved — just like you.
Looking after my friends
Needs our helpTheir numbers are getting smaller, so people are working to protect their homes.
You can help by learning their names, keeping wild places clean, and telling someone why this animal matters.
Where this came from
- Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish) — Red List Assessment — IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish) — Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- Ocean sunfish — Wikipedia
