Bump-head Mola
Mola alexandrini
- Water temperature14–28 °C
- Best monthsAugust and September
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) tunicatedreamz, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
The giant sunfish or bumphead sunfish, also known as the Ramsay's sunfish, southern sunfish, southern ocean sunfish, short sunfish or bump-head sunfish, is a fish belonging to the family Molidae. It is closely related to the more widely known Mola mola, and is found in the Southern Hemisphere. With a specimen found in the Azores in 2021 weighing 2744 kg, being by large the heaviest extant ray-finned fish in the world. It can be found basking on its side occasionally near the surface, which is thought to be used to re-heat itself after diving in cold water for prey, recharge its oxygen stores, and attract gulls to free itself of parasites.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Giant sunfish”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 13 records
- February: 6 records
- March: 22 records
- April: 21 records
- May: 26 records
- June: 13 records
- July: 19 records
- August: 64 records
- September: 51 records
- October: 23 records
- November: 37 records
- December: 19 records
Depth and water temperature
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 14–28 °C
Photos
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Ellen Rykers, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Kai Squires, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Charlotte Kirchner, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Simon Rumble, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Bump-head Mola, Bump-head Sunfish, Bumphead Sunfish, Giant Sunfish, Ramsay's Ocean Sunfish, Ramsay's Sunfish, Short Ocean Sunfish, Short Sunfish, Southern Ocean Sunfish, Southern Sunfish
Names in 5 more languages
- Spanish
- Pez luna gigante, Pez Luna meridional
- French
- Poisson-lune à bosse
- Japanese
- Ushimambo, ウシマンボウ
- Korean
- 혹개복치
- Simplified Chinese
- 拉氏翻車魨, 花紋翻車魨
Other scientific names: Mola ramsayi, Orthagoriscus eurypterus, Orthragoriscus alexandrini, Orthragoriscus eurypterus, Orthragoriscus ramsayi
Similar species
Common sunfishMola mola
Sharptail molaMasturus lanceolatus
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).
- 61 open-data records from 1875 to 2009.
- Species data updated November 4, 2026.
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