Common sunfish
Mola mola
- Usual depth2–16 m
- Water temperature9–29 °C
- Best monthsAugust and September
- How commonCommon
Photo credit: (c) Sidonio Paes, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
The ocean sunfish, also known as the common mola, is one of the largest ray-finned fish in the world. It is the type species of the genus Mola, and one of five extant species in the family Molidae. It was formerly misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which is actually a different and closely related species of sunfish, Mola alexandrini. Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1,000 kg. It is native to tropical and temperate waters around the world. It resembles a fish head without a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long, between 175 and 180 centimetres, when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ocean 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: 112 records
- February: 162 records
- March: 128 records
- April: 279 records
- May: 496 records
- June: 1,592 records
- July: 3,090 records
- August: 7,834 records
- September: 8,306 records
- October: 4,744 records
- November: 1,647 records
- December: 663 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 2–16 m · Deepest record: 850 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 9–29 °C
Photos
(c) Brook, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Anyomus, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Joseph D Kurtz, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Lythronax246, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Nathan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Nate Sabo, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Common sunfish, Giant sunfish, Ocean sunfish, Sunfish, Sun-fish, Common Mola, Giant Sunfish, Headfish, Mola Ocean Sunfish, Moonfish, Oceanic Sunfish, ocean sunfish, Ocean Sunfish, Ocean sunfish, Sunfish, sun-fish, sunfish, Trunk-fish
Names in 8 more languages
- German
- Mondfisch
- Spanish
- mola, Mola, Peixe lua, Pez Cabeza, Pez luna, Pez Luna Oceánico, Pez Sol
- French
- mole, môle, mole commun, Môle Commun, poisson-lune, Poisson-lune, Poisson Lune
- Indonesian
- Ikan Raksasa, Mola-mola
- Japanese
- Mambo, Manbô, マンボウ
- Korean
- 개복치
- Thai
- ปลาหนังช้าง
- Simplified Chinese
- 曼波, 海蟲, 翻車魚, 翻車魨, 蜇魚, 蜇魴
Other scientific names: Aledon capensis, Aledon storeri, Cephalus brevis, Cephalus ortagoriscus, Cephalus pallasianus, Diodon carinatus, Diodon mola, Diodon nummularis, Diplanchias nasus, Mola aculeata, Mola aspera, Mola hispida, Mola rotunda, Molacanthus pallasii, Orthagoriscus analis, Orthagoriscus mola, Orthragoriscus analis, Orthragoriscus blochii, Orthragoriscus elegans, Orthragoriscus fasciatus, Orthragoriscus ghini, Orthragoriscus hispidus, Orthragoriscus lunaris, Orthragoriscus mola, Orthragoriscus redi, Orthragoriscus retzii, Orthragoriscus rondeletii, Orthragoriscus rondeletti, Orthragus luna, Ozodura orsini
Similar species
Bump-head MolaMola alexandrini
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).
- 83,042 open-data records from 1758 to 2025.
- Species data updated November 4, 2026.
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