📸 PhotoPhoto: Photo by Erik van der Goot, used with permission, provided to FishBase by Marianne Nyegaard · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Bumphead sunfish
Mola alexandrini (Bumphead sunfish · ウシマンボウ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum length of 3.3 m is about twice the height of an adult human (about 1.7 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 Its maximum weight of 2,300 kg is comparable to about 38 adults weighing 60 kg each (Comparison).
- 💡 According to the Australian Museum, it is harmless to humans though boats sometimes collide with it, and the museum is preparing to restore and display a specimen.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The bumphead sunfish is a large marine fish of the family Molidae living in oceans worldwide except polar regions. Its name comes from the large bumps on its head and chin.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is short, deep, and laterally compressed. It lacks a caudal fin and instead has a rudder-like structure (clavus), and its teeth are fused into a beak-like shape.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
The Australian Museum notes that it feeds on soft-bodied marine animals such as salps and siphonophores. FishBase considers it to prefer warmer waters than the ocean sunfish (Mola mola), appearing off the Sanriku coast of Japan at sea surface temperatures of 16.8–25.6°C.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — D569F
- • wikidata.org — Q17989174
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Mola alexandrini (Bump-head Mola).jpg
- • fishbase.se — Mola-alexandrini.html
- • australian.museum — bump-head-sunfish-mola-alexandrini
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Mola mola)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.