Big Fish
Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish)
Mola mola · Bony fish, family Molidae
The sunfish looks like the ocean ran out of fish halfway through building one: a huge silver head that simply stops, finished off with a scalloped rudder where the tail should be. Then it moves, and the joke dies: a big mola sculls past with unhurried authority, an eye the size of a plum tracking you, on its way to hang tilted at a cleaning station while bannerfish groom it like pit crew. Bali's cold-upwelling season delivers the world's most reliable encounters, strange gray giants materializing out of thermocline haze at Crystal Bay. It remains one of diving's oddest and most coveted sightings: a deep-sea jellyfish-eater moonlighting as a wall ornament.
Waar en wanneer je er een kunt zien
"Resident" betekent dat je ze bij de meeste duiken op die bestemming tegenkomt; "seizoensgebonden" betekent betrouwbaar aanwezig in de vermelde maanden; al het andere is een bonus, geen garantie.
| Bestemming | Betrouwbaarheid | Maanden | Notities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bali & Nusa PenidaIndonesia | Seasonal: reliable in season | Jul–Oct | |
| Galápagos IslandsEcuador | Occasional | Het hele jaar door | |
| The AzoresPortugal | Occasional | Jun–Sep | |
| California Channel IslandsUnited States | Occasional | Jul–Oct |
Beste maand, in één oogopslag
| Maand | Betrouwbare bestemmingen |
|---|---|
| January | Galápagos Islands |
| February | Galápagos Islands |
| March | Galápagos Islands |
| April | Galápagos Islands |
| May | Galápagos Islands |
| June | Galápagos Islands · The Azores |
| July | Bali & Nusa Penida · Galápagos Islands · The Azores · California Channel Islands |
| August | Bali & Nusa Penida · Galápagos Islands · The Azores · California Channel Islands |
| September | Bali & Nusa Penida · Galápagos Islands · The Azores · California Channel Islands |
| October | Bali & Nusa Penida · Galápagos Islands · California Channel Islands |
| November | Galápagos Islands |
| December | Galápagos Islands |
Ze begrijpen
Habitat: Open ocean through the water column; rises to cleaning stations on reef walls and basks flat at the surface after cold deep dives
Verspreidingsgebied: Temperate and tropical oceans worldwide; diver encounters cluster at Bali's channel reefs, the Mediterranean, California, and the Azores
Gedrag: A vertical dinner-plate of a fish that flaps along on dorsal and anal fins, yaws like a badly trimmed kite, and queues at cleaning stations where bannerfish pick its parasites. Surface basking (lying flat, side up) warms it after deep foraging. Utterly placid around divers unless crowded off the station.
Dieet: Jellyfish and other gelatinous plankton, plus small fish and zooplankton, a low-calorie diet consumed in bulk
Grootte: doorgaans rond 1.8 m; gedocumenteerd tot 3.3 m (total length; among the heaviest bony fishes, with big animals beyond a tonne. Bali's famous 'mola' is now identified as the bump-head sunfish, Mola alexandrini).
Hoe je je ertegenover gedraagt
Nusa Penida's code of conduct is the model: stay behind the reef line at cleaning stations, minimum distances, no flash barrages, no bubbles beneath a cleaning fish, and never chase a departing mola; it won't come back that day.
Behoud
Vulnerable: vast numbers die as bycatch in drift and set nets worldwide; its slow-motion surface basking makes it easy accidental catch.
Gekende duiksites waar je ze tegenkomt
Gemarkeerde locaties zijn voor deze soort in kaart gebracht door onze redacteurs; de getallen zijn GBIF-waarnemingsrecords vastgelegd binnen ongeveer 5 km van een locatie sinds 1990.
Bekijk
Via de officiële kanalen
Wildlife of Monterey | New film in our auditorium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
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