Top 5 fun facts about Mola Mola / Ocean Sunfish

Ocean Sunfish with clear blue water — Ocean Sunfish, also known as the Mola-Mola is an incredible creature to encounter in Bali.

Mola Mola, also known as the Ocean Sunfish, is one of the top sighting we can encounter in certain region of Indonesia. Molas are incredible and definitely mysterious creatures. You will find below a few interesting and fun facts about Mola Molas.

Many of our European guests have encountered small sunfish in the Mediterranean Sea. We are lucky in Bali as they tend to swim through the deep cool water between the island of Bali and Lombok.

We have also seen them during our dive trips to Alor and Komodo, which are part of the Sunda’s islands.

Between July and October, we can expect to get lucky and get a glimpse of these beautiful creatures around Nusa Penida.

Here are the top 5 fun facts about Mola Molas:

MOLAS ARE AS HEAVY AS 4 GRIZZLY BEARS

Known as one of the largest bony fish on the planet. Mola’s can grow up to 3 meters in length and can weigh to about 1,900 KG (4,000 pounds).

MOLAS ARE KNOWN UNDER MULTIPLE NAMES

Mola means milestone in latin and was named as such by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. Why? Simply because of its greyish/brownish color and big circular shape.

Sunfish as they are often seen chilling and sun gazing at the surface of the sea.

Schwimmender Kopf for germans, means “Swimming Head”. It refers to the big head shaped body with only the small eyes and mouth that can be distinguished.

MOLA MOLAS LAY MORE EGGS THAN ANY OTHER KNOWN VERTEBRATE

Sunfish lay more eggs than any other creature in the animal kingdom. Known to lay up to 300 million eggs into the ocean at once. What a great fertilizer!

THEY ARE GLUTTON – THEY EAT A LOT OF TASTY FOOD

These fish are hunting for food over several kilometers each day. They hunt for salps, comb jellies, small fish, zooplankton and squids. As this diet is nutritionally poor, they have to eat a lot.

MOLA MOLAS ARE KNOWN TO BE THE GENTLE GIANT OF THE OCEAN

Being big, heavy and noticeable doesn’t make you a monster. These interesting creatures have their teeth fused together at two places. This means, they could barely bite a medium size fish, let aloe a scuba diver.

We hope you enjoyed some interesting facts about this unusual fish. They are still a fascinating creature and are on a lot of divers bucket list. Some scuba divers travel a lot of kilometers such as travelling to the Galapagos. Others like to give us a visit in Bali to get a glimpse of the sunfish.