| Family: |
Molidae (Molas or Ocean Sunfishes) |
| Max. size: |
100 cm TL (male/unsexed) |
| Environment: |
pelagic-oceanic; marine; depth range 1 - 140 m |
| Distribution: |
Cosmopolitan. Western Atlantic: Florida (USA), Martinique, Venezuela (Ref. 51183), and Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Madeira to Scandinavia (Ref. 4711); Dakar, Senegambie, and Sierra Leone (Ref. 6952); South Africa. Eastern Pacific: central California, USA to Chile; rare north of Mexico (Ref. 2850). Indian Ocean: Madagascar (Ref. 33390), Mauritius (Ref. 58078), Reunion (Ref. 53568), Iran (Ref. 86583), Australia (49596). West Pacific: Japan (Ref. 559), China (Ref. 57879), Taiwan (Ref. 12711), New Zealand (Ref. 5755). |
| Diagnosis: |
Dorsal spines (total): 0-0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 18-18; Anal spines: 0-0; Anal soft rays: 20-20. Caudal fin present in postlarvae but resorbed during metamorphosis and replaced by a clavus (Ref. 4424). Body elongated, Mouth slit vertical (Ref. 35388). |
| Biology: |
Oceanic (Ref. 2850), epipelagic (Ref. 2340), and generally solitary (Ref. 9317). Feeds on planktonic crustaceans (Ref. 4424). |
| IUCN Red List Status: |
Least Concern (LC); Date assessed: 07 June 2011 Ref. (130435)
|
| Threat to humans: |
harmless |
Source and more info: www.fishbase.org. For personal, classroom, and other internal use only. Not for publication.
