Mola mola
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources15 archives
Databases and archives Mola mola's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation18 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility31 540 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System26 623 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI188 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics38 specimens↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The ocean sunfish or common mola (Mola mola) is one of the two heaviest known bony fish in the world, the other being the southern sunfish (Mola alexandrini) of the same genus. Adults typically weigh between 247 and. The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the world. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended. Sunfish are generalist predators that consume largely small fishes, fish larvae, squid, and crustaceans. Sea jellies and salps, once thought to be the primary prey of sunfish, make up only 15% of a sunfish's diet. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate, up to 300,000,000 at a time.Freedman, J. A., & Noakes, D. L. G. (2002) Why are there no really big bony fishes? A point-of-view on maximum body size in teleosts and elasmobranchs. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. 12(4): 403-416. Sunfish fry resemble miniature pufferfish, with large pectoral fins, a tail fin, and body spines uncharacteristic of adult sunfish. Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, killer whales, and sharks will consume them. Sunfish are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, including Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. In the European Union, regulations ban the sale of fish and fishery products derived from the family Molidae. Sunfish are frequently caught in gillnets. A member of the order Tetraodontiformes, which also includes pufferfish, porcupinefish, and filefish, the sunfish shares many traits common to members of this order. The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, is the type species of the genus.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Life cycle & reproduction1
Habitat & environment2
Other traits3
Compounds documented for Mola mola across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds66 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| (1R,2S,3S,6R,7S,10R,11S)-1,6,10-trimethyl-4,14-dioxatetracyclo[9.2.1.02,10.03,7]tetradecan-5-one | present | NPASS | |
| (1R,4S,5S)-2-methyl-5-[(2R)-6-methylhept-5-en-2-yl]cyclohex-2-ene-1,4-diol | present | NPASS | |
| (1S,2S,4R,7E,11S,12R)-4,8,12-trimethyl-3,14-dioxatricyclo[9.3.0.02,4]tetradec-7-en-13-one | present | NPASS | |
| (3R,3As,5aR,6R,9aS,9bS)-6-hydroxy-3,5a-dimethyl-9-methylidene-3a,4,5,6,7,8,9a,9b-octahydro-3H-benzo[g][1]benzofuran-2-one | present | NPASS | |
| (3R,3aS,5aR,6R,9bS)-6-hydroxy-3,5a,9-trimethyl-3,3a,4,5,6,7,8,9b-octahydrobenzo[g][1]benzofuran-2-one | present | NPASS | |
| (3R,3aS,5aR,6R,9R,9aS,9bS)-6,9-dihydroxy-3,5a,9-trimethyl-3a,4,5,6,7,8,9a,9b-octahydro-3H-benzo[g][1]benzofuran-2-one | present | NPASS | |
| (3R,3aS,7R,10E,11aS)-7-hydroxy-3,10-dimethyl-6-methylidene-3,3a,4,5,7,8,9,11a-octahydrocyclodeca[b]furan-2-one | present | NPASS | |
| (3S,3aR,4S,6S,9bS)-4-(Acetyloxy)-3a,4,5,6,8,9b-hexahydro-6-hydroxy-3,6,9-trimethylazuleno[4,5-b]furan-2(3H)-one | present | NPASS | |
| (3S,3aR,4S,6S,9bS)-4-(Acetyloxy)-3a,5,6,9b-tetrahydro-6-hydroxy-3,6,9-trimethyl-4H-cyclohepta(2,1-b:3,4-c')difuran-2(3H)-one | present | NPASS | |
| (4R,6S)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-6-[(2R)-6-methylhept-5-en-2-yl]cyclohex-2-en-1-one | present | NPASS |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Mola mola has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Mola mola carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
How it livedPBDB
Record type58 163 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions23 of 52 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| DASSHlocation not on record | 636 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 30 |
| CASlocation not on record | 16 |
| NHMOlocation not on record | 12 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 10 |
| Stockholm, SE | 9 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 9 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 7 |
| The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record | 7 |
| Cambridge, US | 7 |
| Washington, US | 7 |
| Museums Victorialocation not on record | 7 |
| ICATMARlocation not on record | 6 |
| Tromsø, NO | 6 |
| UWFClocation not on record | 6 |
| Los Angeles, US | 5 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 5 |
| NTNU-VMlocation not on record | 5 |
| South Kensington, GB | 4 |
| Paris, FR | 4 |
| Citadel Hill, GB | 4 |
| Toronto, CA | 3 |
| Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record | 3 |
| Natick, US | 3 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 3 |
| Brussels, BE | 3 |
| Kagoshima University Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 2 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 2 |
| Barcelona, ES | 2 |
| Food Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisherieslocation not on record | 2 |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 2 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 2 |
| Vancouver, CA | 2 |
| New Haven, US | 2 |
| 2 | |
| University of Victorialocation not on record | 1 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 1 |
| Australian Museum, Sydneylocation not on record | 1 |
| Yokosuka City Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Honolulu, US | 1 |
| Nova Scotia Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 1 |
| PUC-RSlocation not on record | 1 |
| Auckland, NZ | 1 |
| South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record | 1 |
| National Natural History Collectionslocation not on record | 1 |
| Sydney, AU | 1 |
| National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korealocation not on record | 1 |
| Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallerylocation not on record | 1 |
| PNHSlocation not on record | 1 |
| Chicago, US | 1 |
Where the DNA of Mola mola was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.