Holy mola! It’s a whole new year! 🎉
The ocean sunfish,
Mola mola, can grow up to 10 feet long from head to tail. With a tiny mouth, this animal slurps jellies as they swim through the ocean.
It was a treat for our remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to spot this sunfish as it dove to deeper water to feast on jellies.
Molas are fairly common in Monterey Bay, spending part of the time floating on their sides at the surface, where boaters can get a good view. Sunning molas are visited by gulls who pick off tasty snacks—external parasites! Their large size and large number of parasitic hitchhikers make molas an unappetizing meal for most ocean animals. But gulls aren’t picky eaters and don’t mind gorging on those parasites.
Head on over to our YouTube channel and reminisce about the last year with
MBARI’s Best of 2021 video.