The ocean sunfish or common mola (Mola mola) is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It is the type species of the genus Mola, and one of five extant species in the family Molidae.
It was once misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which was actually a different and closely related species of sunfish, Mola alexandrini.
Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1,000 kg (545 and 2,205 lb). It is native to tropical and temperate waters around the world. It resembles a fish head without 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.
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.
Its common English name, sunfish, refers to the animal's habit of sunbathing at the surface of the sea.
It shares many traits common to members in the order Tetraodontiformes including pufferfish, porcupinefish, and filefish like having a beak formed from four fused teeth; sunfish fry resemble spiky pufferfish more than they resemble adult molas.
