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Dieren en planten

Fish   Trigger-fish   Sunfish   Marine fauna   Sea fish   Catches and finds   Parasites   
  • Dut: Maanvis (klompvis, molensteenvis, molenvis, zwemmende Kop)
  • Lat: Mola Mola
  • Eng: Sunfish
  • Ger: Mondfisch
  • Dan: Klumpfisk
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Sunfish, caught at the end of 1992, Ecomare

Sunfish

Every once in awhile, a sunfish is caught in the North Sea, or one is washed ashore. It is usually a small, young specimen weighing around 50 kilograms. Sunfish are found in all the seas around the world, however never in large numbers. They live off of young fish and zooplankton, with a preference for jellyfish. Sunfish have a relatively long life expectancy and keep growing the whole time. There have been reports of sunfish 4 meters long and 1500 kilograms.

  • Funny looking fish

    Sunfish are known for their strange appearance, which can be described best with the term 'swimming head'. The slice-like body form ends, directly after the extended dorsal and anal fins, in an exceptionally short tail. They have a rough, leathery skin without scales, under which a layer of cartilage lies as extra protection. They often have a lot of fish louse, parasites belonging to the copepods. They are not able to make any flexible swimming motions with their stiff bodies. They swim by using their dorsal and anal fins as paddles.

  • Sunfish in the North Sea

    The North Sea is rich in plankton, and therefore it is not unusual that a sunfish should occasionally be found swimming around here. That mostly occurs in the months of December and January, although there are occasional reports during other seasons. Every year, a few are accidentally caught by the North Sea fishermen. Sometimes one will wash ashore. It is assumed that they are not able to manage well with their stiff bodies in shallow coastal water. At the end of December 2005, three sunfish washed ashore in the Netherlands.
    Large sunfish are rare in the North Sea; one usually catches specimen weighing around 50 kilograms. The largest sunfish spotted in Dutch waters washed ashore in December 1889 on Ameland. That animal was 2.73 meters wide and 2.23 meters long. The third largest one ever caught was on 23 December 1992 in the Diepe Gat by a Texel's fishing vessel TX 37. This animal was 1.60 meters long and two meters wide. At the end of November 1998, the UK 225 caught a slightly larger sunfish in the Silver Pit. This animal was 1.78 meters long, 2.24 meters wide and weighed 251 kilogram.

  • Recent beaching and catches
    Date Place Length (cm) Height (cm) Weight (kg)
    6-2002 Southern North Sea (VLI 25) 40
    1-2003 Southern North Sea (ARM 20) 42
    30-12-2003 Middelkerke 59
    14-12-2004 Den Helder 68
    2-1-2005 Wassenaar 84 40
    7-1-2005 Knokke-Heist 81 104 35
    23-12-2005 Vlieland 81
    26-12-2005 Zandvoort
    25-12-2005 Veerse dam (Zeeland) 78
    sources: various reports on Internet, in Fishery News and newspapers
  • Distribution of sunfish
    Distribution of sunfish, Ecomare
  • Little known

    There is little if nothing known about the reproduction of sunfish. Young sunfish do not resemble the adult specimen. When they are 1 centimeter long, they have a round-shaped body with thorny-like projections: adaptations which advance the drifting ability in the upper water columns.