Sharptail mola

About this species

The sharptail mola is a species of mola found circumglobally in tropical and temperate waters. It is similar in appearance to the ocean sunfish, but can be distinguished by the projection on its clavus (pseudo-tail). Other common names include sharpfin sunfish, point-tailed sunfish, and trunkfish.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Sharptail mola”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 10 records
February: 7 records
March: 5 records
April: 7 records
May: 5 records
June: 10 records
July: 5 records
August: 5 records
September: 8 records
October: 2 records
November: 15 records
December: 16 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 252–391 m · Deepest record: 391 m

250–260 m: 1 records
260–270 m: 0 records
270–280 m: 1 records
280–290 m: 1 records
290–300 m: 0 records
300–310 m: 0 records
310–320 m: 3 records
320–330 m: 0 records
330–340 m: 0 records
340–350 m: 0 records
350–360 m: 0 records
360+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 13–29 °C

12–14 °C: 2 records
14–16 °C: 12 records
16–18 °C: 11 records
18–20 °C: 4 records
20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 2 records
24–26 °C: 4 records
26–28 °C: 94 records
28–30 °C: 51 records

Photos

(c) Rebecca Gimenez Husted, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) harrier, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Elizabeth Paley, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Wang J.P., some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Sharptail mola, Sharptail sunfish, Sharpfin Sunfish, Sharptailed Sunfish, sharptail mola, Sharptail Mola, sharptail sunfish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Sonnenfisch
Spanish: mola coliaguda, pez luna coliagudo
French: Poisson-lune lancéolé
Japanese: Yarimambo, Yarimanbô, トンガリヤリマンボウ, ヤリマンボウ
Simplified Chinese: 矛尾翻車魨

Other scientific names: Masturus lanceolata, Masturus oxyuropterus, Mola lanceolata, Mola lanceolatus, Orthagoriscus lanceolatus, Orthagoriscus oxyuropterus, Pseudomola lassarati

Similar species

Common sunfish
Mola mola
Bump-head Mola
Mola alexandrini

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
185 open-data records from 1965 to 2021.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.