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Ocean Sunfish Stranding
The clavus of the Ocean Sunfish.
Numerous internal and external parasites were found. These sea lice Lepeophtheirus nordmanni are on the fish's tongue. View larger image.
On September 11, 2002, a 1.8 m long Ocean Sunfish Mola mola washed up on Narrabeen Beach, northern Sydney, New South Wales.
A team from National Parks and Taronga Zoo euthanased the dying fish and took it to the zoo for autopsy. The autopsy report stated that the fish was dying of starvation.
This page shows some of the images that were taken during the autopsy by Australian Museum Staff member Kerryn Parkinson.
A range of tissue samples from the fish are now stored in the Australian Museum Fish Collection under collection event AMS I.41536.
The clavus (tail frill) of the Ocean Sunfish has 12 fin rays. This is one of the characters that separate it from the other Australian species in the genus, M.ramsayi (view fact sheet), which has 16 fin rays.
The name Mola comes from the Latin word for millstone and refers to the rounded shape of the fish.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
View the Ocean Sunfish fact sheet.
Further reading
- Glover, J.C.M. in Gomon, M.F, J.C.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Matsuura, K. & J.C. Tyler. In Paxton, J.R. & W.N. Eschmeyer (Eds). 1994. Encyclopedia of Fishes. Sydney: New South Wales University Press; San Diego: Academic Press [1995]. Pp. 240.
- Stewart, A. 1997. Sunfishes - sculling superfish. Seafood New Zealand. June: 89-91.
