The ocean sunfish is one of the sea's real wide bodies. This creature's 4,000 pound bulk is flat, and the fins underneath and top of its body stretch around its circular frame and propel it at surprising speed-it looks like a giant swimming cookie. While the ocean sunfish can zip along, it usually spends its time floating freely and feeding on easy meals in the upper ocean currents.
Power Steering: This creature's tall dorsal and anal fins propel the fish through the water, but its pectoral (side) fins aren't strong enough for steering. Instead, the ocean sunfish squirts jets of water from holes behind its gills to make turns.
Sandpaper Skin: The ocean sunfish's skin is its only protection against predators. The fish doesn't have scales, but its skin is so rough it can scrape a boat hull clean of paint. Plus, a bite into a sunfish can be fatal, because its skin is laced with strong toxins.
Free Floating Buffet[]
Ocean sunfish dwarf divers, but are gentle giants that don't attack people.
The ocean sunfish can speed through the sea when it needs to, but the fish can't navigate very well, so it usually likes to drift along in steady ocean currents. This is actually how the creature feeds. The ocean sunfish eats mostly jellyfish and plankton, which float along the surface. The sunfish sucks its prey into its mouth as it passes them by and, if necessary, chews them into small pieces with a ridge of teeth that are fused together to form a parrot-like beak.
Fun in the Sun: The ocean sunfish is named for its habit of swimming near the surface and swimming on its side, which makes it look like its basking in the sun. When the creature swims upright, its dorsal fin often breaks the surface, like that of a shark.
Battlefield Fish: This creature's wide body attracts a lot of parasites that feed off its bodily fluids. To rid itself of these pests, the ocean sunfish swims into coral reefs and allows groups of smaller fish to "attack" it, and eat the parasites.
Big Changes[]
- When a baby ocean sunfish hatches it looks nothing like an adult. Aside from being tiny, its fins are small, and it actually has a tail to help it swim.
- As the larva grows, it develops a set of protective spines around its body, and its body begins to flatten into the shape of an adult.
- When the fish matures, its body flattens dramatically; its tail disappears, and its dorsal and anal fins begin to grow. It will eventually reach lengths up to 11 feet.
Trivia[]
- Ocean Sunfish are technically considered plankton. This is due to them being unable to fully swim with the ocean current; most fish are considered "nekton", which is anything that can swim with the current on their own. Most other featured plankton are jellyfish.
- As part of the Tetraodontiformes order, Ocean Sunfish are distantly related to Pufferfish, Porcupine Fish, and Triggerfish.