Giant sunfish
| Giant sunfish | |
|---|---|
| A giant sunfish swimming amongst a small school of pilot fish while a scuba diver looks on in the background | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
| Family: | Molidae |
| Genus: | Mola |
| Species: | M. alexandrini |
| Binomial name | |
| Mola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839) | |
| Synonyms | |
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The giant sunfish or bumphead sunfish (Mola alexandrini), (also known as the Ramsay's sunfish, southern sunfish, southern ocean sunfish, short sunfish or bump-head sunfish in various parts of the world), is a fish belonging to the family Molidae. It is closely related to the more widely known Mola mola, and is found in the Southern Hemisphere. With a specimen found dead near the Azores in 2021 weighing in at 2744 kg (6049 lb) it is the largest extant bony fish species in terms of maximum recorded mass by a wide margin. It can be found basking on its side occasionally near the surface, which is thought to be used to re-heat itself after diving in cold water for prey, recharge its oxygen stores, and attract gulls to free itself of parasites.