🐡Photo: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administ… · Public domain
🐡Ocean sunfish
The ocean sunfish, also known as the common mola, is one of the largest ray-finned 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 formerly misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which is actually a different and closely related species of sunfish, Mola alexandrini. Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1,000 kg. 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.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2015.
- Body mass
- 1,265 kg
- Body length
- 3.33 m
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- not recorded
Everything we know about the Ocean sunfish
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass1,265 kgrecord 1,320 kg · FishBaseAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: low
Record: largest individual on record
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Body length3.33 mmaximum recordedFishBaseDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0
Litter sizeabout 300000000AnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: low
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Trophic level3.13FishBaseDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: FishBase · v25.04, estimate table · CC BY-NC 4.0
DietcarnivoreaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
From trophic level 3.13 (FishBase): <2.2 herbivore, 2.2–2.8 omnivore, >2.8 carnivore.
Danger to humanspoisonous to eatFishBaseDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0
Volume l1,265 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Ocean sunfish yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force, maximum lifespan.
Family tree
- superclassRay-finned fish · Actinopterygii
- suborderMoloidei
- familyMolidae
- genusMola
All 13 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassRay-finned fish · Actinopterygii
- classActinopteri
- subclassNeopterygii
- orderAcanthomorphata
- orderTetraodontiformes
- suborderMoloidei
- familyMolidae
- genusMola
More about the Ocean sunfish
Animals caught on camera
Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.
Compare the Ocean sunfish
Pick a tool — the Ocean sunfish is already selected.
Compare every stat with any other animal.
Stand them on the same floor and see who's bigger.
How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.
See where it sits in the tree of life.