2015 ) and can swim long distances against major currents (e.g. Watanabe and Sato 2008, Nakamura and Sato 2014, Nakamura et al. These tagging studies have revealed that sunfishes have high-performance burst swimming abilities (e.g. Recent tagging studies have finally laid to rest the historical characterization of sunfishes as passive drifters (Pope et al.
Throughout the world, a number of intriguing common names exist for ocean sunfishes including: 2017) the sharptail sunfish, Masturus lanceolatus (Lienard 1840) and the slender sunfish, Ranzania laevis (Pennant 1776). Species include: the common mola, Mola mola (Linnaeus 1758) giant ocean sunfish, Mola alexandrini (Ranzani 1839) the hoodwinker sunfish, Mola tecta (Nyegaard et al. Presently, five species are recognized within the family Molidae.
Genus, Species: Mola mola, Mola tecta, Mola alexandrini, Masturus lanceolatus, Ranzania laevis. Order: Tetraodoniformes (trigger fish, boxfish, porcupinefishes, pufferfishes)