What Is a MolaMola? Get to Know the Ocean Sunfish

What Is a MolaMola? Get to Know the Ocean Sunfish

Have you ever asked yourself why MolaMola Diving Center is called that way and what MolaMola actually means?

Today you will get to know more about the Ocean Sunfish called “MolaMola” and if you ever join our boat, we will tell you more about why we named our Diving Center after the Ocean Sunfish 😉

The Heaviest Known Bony Fish

The MolaMola or the Ocean Sunfish is definitely one of the weirdest looking fish in the sea. Their shape looks a little truncated, bullet-like with a short body that ends abruptly in a thick rudderlike structure called a clavus just behind the tall triangular dorsal and anal fins. Their shape is a little circular, they have a silvery color and a rough skin texture.

They have an average lifespan of about 10 years and their size is around 3.5 meters. And: The MolaMola is also the heaviest known bony fish with some weighing in at more than 2000 kg!

The Most Fecund Fish on Earth

But the MolaMola is not only the heaviest fish – befitting their size, female MolaMolas produce more eggs than any other vertebrate on earth — about 300 million a pop. Yet the baby fish that hatch out of them are the size of a pinhead.

MolaMolas can be found in both tropical and temperate waters. It is usually found in the open sea, often at the surface. But sometimes, they dive to depths around 200 meters to snack on jellyfish. In addition to jellies and zooplankton they are also known to eat squid, sponges, eel grass, crustaceans, small fishes and deep-water eel larvae.

Rare to See in Daymaniyat Island

To be honest with you now, despite the name of our Diving Center, it is quite rare to see MolaMola’s when diving with us in Daymaniyat Island. We have actually only seen one of them here in Oman so far – but hey, you never know what happens on your next dive, right?

Book your first dive with us today!