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Mola-mola
Mola-Mola is the biggest bony fish in the world, measuring easily 2.5 - 3 meters height, fin-to-fin. The biggest size officially recorded was 3.3 meters in length (head to tail) and 4.2 meters height (fin-to-fin) and weighing up to 2,300 kgs! Mola-Mola are deep sea fish and prefers colder water. During certain months of the year due to current from Indian Ocean, they do come to a few dive sites around Bali for cleaning, and that's the best chance for scuba divers to see them reliably. Even then, it is still not shallow as they are mostly seen around 30-40 meters depth, still within the recreational diving limits of most scuba divers. However, water temperature can still be cold to divers, usually around 18-22 C. The Mola-mola carries a lot of parasites (isopods), some of them can be fairly large in size; 2-3 cm and they are favourites of Bannerfishes and Angelfishes that do the 'cleaning' when the Mola-Mola comes to the shallows. Earlier this year, a 3rd species of Mola was officially described from New Zealand.
Pic#2 shows a diver behind the large sized Mola-mola for size reference, this Mola-Mola was nearly 3 meters height, fin-to-fin.
Spotted on Oct 15, 2017
Submitted on Oct 21, 2017
2 Comments
Thanks, @Muckpuk.
They do come up to the surface to 'sun-bathe' by swimming on their side, hence their name, Sunfish. When they do that, its because they are using the hot sun to rid themselves of the Parasites that can be found on their body.
Wonderful. I have seen one in my life. Quite close to the surface as a chance encounter. No picture though. Thanks for yours.