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Larval Ocean Sunfish
Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758)
Ocean Sunfish (1.84 mm) - top view.
Ocean Sunfish (1.84 mm) - lateral view.
Above and below: A 2.7 mm long larval Ocean Sunfish from the Ichthyology Collection of the National Science Museum, Tokyo. Photo © D. Johnson, USNM. View larger image.
Ocean Sunfish (37 mm) - front view.
Ocean Sunfish (37 mm) - lateral view.
Sunfishes are amazingly fecund fishes. A single adult female can produce up to 300 million tiny buoyant eggs. Fertilization occurs when eggs and sperm are shed into the water.
Larval ocean sunfish look quite different to adults. The images on this page show Ocean Sunfish larvae at different sizes.
The top illustration shows a 1.84 mm long Ocean Sunfish larva viewed from above (from Sanzo, 1939). Note the broad body shape.
The second illustration shows a lateral view of the same fish. At this small size the Ocean Sunfish has a primordial tail fin, large pectoral fins and body spines. The spines are proportionally large up until a body length of at least 10 mm. The Ocean Sunfish at 1.84 mm looks less like the adult fish and more like the pufferfishes and boxfishes to which it is related.
The two photographs show anterior and lateral views of a 2.7 mm long larval Ocean Sunfish, trawled in the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan in May 1981. Note that the spiny body is more compressed than the 1.84 mm long fish, but still less compressed than older fish.
The bottom two illustrations show front and lateral views of a 37 mm Ocean Sunfish. (from Reuvens, 1894). By the time the fish has reached this size, the body spines are much less prominent, the body is deeper and more compressed, and the beak-like teeth and clavus have developed. The adult Ocean Sunfish has no visible spines.
Related links
- View the Adult Ocean Sunfish fact sheet
- View the Ocean Sunfish stranding page
- View a Slender Sunfish larva
- View the Sunfishes list
- View the family Molidae list
Further reading
- Martin, F.D. & G.E. Drewry. 1978. Development of Fishes of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. An Atlas of Egg, Larval and Juvenile Stages. Vol. VI. Stromateidae through Ogcocephalidae. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. FWS/OBS-78/12. Pp. 1- 416.
- Matsuura, K & J.C. Tyler. Triggerfishes and their allies. 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.
- Reuvens, C.L. 1894. Remarks on the genus Orthragoriscus. Notes Leyden Mus. 16:128-130, pl. 5.
- Sanzo, L. 1939. Rarissimi stadi larvali di Teleostei. Arch. Zool. Ital. 26:121-151, 2 pls. [in Italian]
- Tortonese, E. 1956. Plectognathi in Fauna E Flora del Golfo di Napoli. Monograpfia 38: Uova, Larvae e Stadi Giovanili de Teleostei. "Monografi elaborata con l'uso del materiale raccolto e seriato da Salvatore Lo Bianco" Part 3B. pp.457-1064, pl. XXXVI-LI. [in Italian]
- Watson W. 1996. Molidae. in The Early Stages of Fishes in the California Current Region, Pp. 1439-1441. Moser, H.G. (Ed.). CalCOFI Atlas No. 33.
