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Notes on the Anatomy and Relationships of the Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola)

1934; American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists; Volume: 1934; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1435841

1938-5110

William K. Gregory, Henry Cushier Raven,

Ichthyology and Marine Biology

The fish was caught off Sandy Hook in the lower bay of New York on September 15, 1932. It weighed 175 pounds, which is only about one-tenth the maximum weight recorded by Jordan and Evermann.2 Nevertheless it was a male with fully developed testes. Hence it seems that Mola probably goes on increasing in weight long after the testes attain maturity. The total height from the tip of the dorsal fin to the tip of the anal fin is about 64 inches, the total length 47 inches. Thus the total height is about 1.36 times the length. In the front view the body is deep and keel-like below with a knife-like lower edge in front of the vent. The thickness increases dorsally and there are prominent swellings above the eyes. The ordinary axial musculature is absent and the body is enveloped in a very thick rubber-like skin from two to two and a half inches in thickness. Hence flexure of the body must be slight and movement must be largely confined to side-to-side waving of the high median fins and gentle undulations of the scalloped border of the abbreviated deep tail, which serves also as a rudder. Lateral stability is aided by the wide, more or less truncate pectorals, which have a long range of abduction and adduction. The entire surface of the skin is covered with close-set denticle-like