The giant swimming head that lays 300 million eggs
This fish looks like a giant swimming head — and lays 300 million eggs at once.
Which one is REALLY true about the Ocean Sunfish?
The short version
The ocean sunfish (mola mola) is the heaviest bony fish on Earth, over 10 feet tall and 2+ tons, with no real tail so it looks like a swimming head. It eats jellyfish, sunbathes on its side at the surface, and a single female can carry up to 300 million eggs.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Ocean Sunfish is the heaviest bony fish on the entire planet.
- ✓The Ocean Sunfish can grow over ten feet tall and weigh more than two tons.
- ✓The Ocean Sunfish has no real tail, so it looks like a giant swimming head.
- ✓The Ocean Sunfish steers with two huge wing-like fins while mostly drifting along eating jellyfish.
- ✓The Ocean Sunfish can carry up to three hundred million eggs in a single female, more than almost any other animal.
The Ocean Sunfish is about 2.7× as long as a 7-year-old! 🤯
The full story
This giant fish looks like someone sliced off a head and tossed it into the sea. Meet the ocean sunfish, or mola mola, the heaviest bony fish on the entire planet. It can grow over ten feet tall and weigh more than two tons, yet it mostly just drifts along eating jellyfish. Its body simply stops behind the fins, with no real tail at all, so it steers with two huge wing-like fins and looks permanently confused. It loves to float on its side at the surface to sunbathe, letting seabirds pick the parasites off its skin. And it is the ultimate gambler of reproduction. A single female can carry up to three hundred million eggs at once, more than almost any other animal on Earth. A two-ton swimming head, basking in the sun. Follow for more weird animal facts.
A mola starts as an egg smaller than a pencil tip and grows into a giant heavier than two tons — about 60 million times its starting weight, one of the biggest size jumps of any animal on Earth. It grows so fast by eating almost non-stop: jellyfish and other jelly-like drifters are easy to catch, so even though they're mostly water and low in energy, the sunfish gulps huge amounts and piles on weight. Unlike most fish, a mola has no gas-filled swim bladder to help it float. Instead its body is packed with a thick, lightweight jelly-like layer that keeps it from sinking. It often lies flat at the surface to warm up in the sun, but it also dives deep to hunt — so it isn't just floating in one spot.
📚 Source: Ocean Sunfish, Monterey Bay Aquarium ↗Aquarium scientists have watched young sunfish pack on weight astonishingly fast — one juvenile at the Monterey Bay Aquarium grew from about 26 kg to nearly 400 kg in just 15 months, close to a kilogram a day on average — showing how a tiny hatchling really can become a two-ton giant.
📚 Source: Ocean Sunfish, Monterey Bay Aquarium ↗Watch the 45-second version
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“The Ocean Sunfish is the heaviest bony fish on the entire planet.”
“The Ocean Sunfish has three hearts and nine brains.”
“The Ocean Sunfish can grow over ten feet tall and weigh more than two tons.”