Ocean Sunfish Pictures
What is the largest bony fish in the world? The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) of course! My stock photos of the ocean sunfish appear on Oceanlight.com in addition to the ocean sunfish pictures I have on Photoshelter:
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Ocean Sunfish Pictures - Images by Phillip Colla |
If you cannot see the slideshow above, see this ocean sunfish photo slideshow on Photoshelter!
Keywords: ocean sunfish, mola mola, underwater, Pacific.
Photo of a Mola Mola and Diver
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 36' 39.93" N, Longitude: 117° 58' 0.55" W, Coord: 32.611092°, -117.96682°
Filed under: California, Ocean Sunfish, Photo of the Day, San Diego, Wildlife on 1/31/2007
Here’s my friend Mike Johnson photographing a large ocean sunfish (Mola mola) offshore of San Diego.
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| Ocean sunfish and freediving photographer, open ocean. San Diego, California, USA. Image: 03491 Species: Mola mola Location: San Diego, California, USA  View this Image in Google Earth! |
More ocean sunfish photos.
Sport Diver Cover
My photograph of an ocean sunfish alongside drift kelp appeared on the June 2003 cover of Sport Diver magazine:
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Keywords: Mola mola, ocean sunfish photos.
The Kelp Forest :: Part IV
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 6' 10.1" N, Longitude: 117° 22' 56.84" W, Coord: 32.102808°, -117.38246°
Filed under: California, Natural World, Ocean Sunfish, Stories, Wildlife on 6/11/2005
Further to the south, Santa Barbara and Catalina Island kelp forests offer somewhat less profuse animal life but warmer and clearer waters. While I don’t dive these two islands often anymore, I do dive kelp originating from these islands throughout the summer: drift kelp. I was introduced to the notion of seeking out floating paddies of kelp by bluewater photographer Mike Johnson and have been hooked ever since. It is a strange pursuit, driving miles of open ocean in search of drifting kelp in the hope of finding something under it. You see, kelp plants that lose their hold on the reef continue to float and grow, drifting with the winds and currents until they are beached or reach warm water. Along the way they gather a variety of passengers including juvenile fish, Medialuna eggs, barnacles and pelagic nudibranchs. Paddies and their passengers further attract a variety of open ocean life: diving birds, bait fish, yellowtail, tuna and marlin, blue and mako sharks. Perhaps the oddest of these visitors is the ocean sunfish (Mola mola), which recruits small fishes at paddies to clean it of parasites — a cleaning station for the largest bony fish in the world, miles from shore in deep oceanic water, circling a scrap of drifting seaweed.
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| Ocean sunfish schooling near drift kelp, soliciting cleaner fishes, open ocean, Baja California. Image: 06308 Species: Mola mola View this Image in Google Earth! |
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| Blue shark underneath drift kelp, open ocean. San Diego, California, USA. Image: 01006 Species: Prionace glauca |
Pacific white sided dolphin carrying drift kelp. San Diego, California, USA. Image: 00043 Species: Lagenorhynchus obliquidens |
Half-moon perch, offshore drift kelp. San Diego, California, USA. Image: 01933 Species: Medialuna californiensis |
For more photos of the kelp forest, see http://www.oceanlight.com/html/kelp.html<
Ocean Sunfish Floating On The Ocean Surface
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 43' 12.3" N, Longitude: 117° 31' 41.03" W, Coord: 32.720086°, -117.52806°
Filed under: Ocean Sunfish, Photo of the Day, Wildlife on 2/3/2005
Here’s a photograph we licensed today for a book in Australia. Can you guess what the bright white object is?
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| Ocean sunfish. San Diego, California, USA. Image: 02030 Species: Mola mola Location: San Diego, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
It is an OCEAN SUNFISH (Mola mola), laying flat on the ocean’s surface, far offshore of the San Diego (California, USA) coastline. The ocean sunfish is the largest bony fish in the world (sharks and rays are cartilaginous). Southern California seems to be one of the best places in the world to see an ocean sunfish, since they are typically found offshore of southern California and Baja California in the summer. Some years they appear in great numbers while other years they are harder to find on the surface. Often the first ocean sunfish that one sees is a resting one, laying flat on the ocean surface. It may look dead or sick, but it almost certainly is not. When it senses the approach of the boat, it will “wake up” and assume its normal vertical orientation and start swimming — either away from the boat if it is started or toward the boat if it is curious. Ocean sunfish do not have any natural predators. They eat zooplankton such as salps and jellyfish.
This photograph was taken in January about 20 miles offshore of San Diego and 2 feet above the water, leaning over the rail of a small boat.
Keywords: Ocean sunfish, Mola mola, photograph, picture, San Diego
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Updated: May 19, 2013
