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Runa fish, description of the moon fish, everything about the moon fish, moon fish and habitat. Common moon fish How much does a moon fish weigh

The heaviest modern bony fish living in ocean waters, is Common sunfish, a representative of the family of moonfish of the same name. In some countries it is also called sunfish or headfish.

Sunfish very rarely gather in groups of more than two individuals.

Geography of habitat

The sunfish lives in the waters of all oceans of tropical and subtropical latitudes; during the spawning season, the fish migrate to tropical waters. So, in the eastern Pacific Ocean this fish lives from Canada to southern regions Peru and Chile. In the Indian Ocean, fish can be found everywhere, right up to the Red Sea. IN Atlantic Ocean they live from Scandinavian Peninsula to South Africa. They are also found near the Kuril Islands and in the Sea of Japan.

Meet these amazing fish It is possible at a depth of up to 850 meters. According to research by scientists, almost 80% of the time these fish are at a depth of about 200 meters, and the rest of the time, they rise to a depth of 10 meters.

Moonfish in the company of divers.

Sunfish in the water column.

Appearance

Even looking at the photo of the moon fish, it is difficult to imagine how unusual it looks. Their body is quite short, high and flattened on the sides - this physique gives it an unusual appearance, making it look like a disk. They do not have a caudal fin, and the pelvic girdle is reduced. Instead of the caudal fin and them, there is a “pseudo-tail” - a cartilaginous plate formed by the spinal and cartilaginous fin. Pelvic and caudal fins are absent.

The moonfish's mouth ends in a beak formed by fused teeth. The fish have no scales, and the skin is covered with cat growths and mucus. The color of adult sunfish can be from brown to gray-silver with a variegated pattern - it all depends on the habitat. Average length adult individuals are about 1.8 m, height can reach 3 m, and weight varies from 250 to 1600 kg.

Moonfish: front view.

Quite a large specimen of the sunfish.

Moon fish, also called sun fish.

Nutrition and behavior

The basis of the diet of sunfish consists of: oceanic plankton, salps, ctenophores and jellyfish, in addition they can eat small fish and crustaceans, eel larvae, sponges, starfish, squid, since this food is not particularly caloric, the fish is forced to absorb it in huge sizes. This diet confirms that these fish can feed both on the surface and at depth.

As a rule, these fish live alone, less often in pairs. They are not considered good swimmers, as they maximum speed a little over 3 km/h. Sunfish do not live in too warm water; if the temperature rises to 12°C, then the fish lose orientation in space and may even die.

The sunfish's natural enemies include sea lions, killer whales, and sharks.

Sunfish head close-up.

Sunfish among smaller fish.

Old sunfish.

Reproduction

The head fish is the most prolific creature in the ocean - during one spawning, the female is capable of laying about 300 million eggs with a diameter of about 0.1 cm. Newborn fry weigh about 0.01 grams and look like puffer fish, however time will pass and the size of the fish will increase 60 million times - only these fish have such a huge ratio from birth to adulthood.

The average lifespan of these fish in captivity is about 10 years, in natural conditions 16-23 years.

Giant sunfish.

Sunfish in the aquarium.

Sunfish near the surface of the water.

The brain mass of this oceanic giant is 4 grams.
If you put all the sunfish eggs in a chain, its length will be about 30 km.
There is a toxin in the body of these fish, so it is undesirable to eat it, and if you eat caviar, milt or liver, it can be fatal.
Sunfish are often kept in captivity, but sometimes these fish die when they crash against the walls of the aquarium.
The spinal cord of the sunfish is shorter than the head, length no more than 15 mm.

The sunfish reaches over 3 m in length and weighs 1410 kg, and once a supergiant 5.5 m long was caught off the Atlantic coast of the United States (New Hampshire), the weight of which remained unknown. The short, laterally compressed body of this fish approaches the shape of a disk. (It is no coincidence that she was given scientific name"Mola", which means "millstone" in Latin.) The unusually thick and elastic skin of the moon fish is covered with small bony tubercles.Larvae and juveniles of this species swim like ordinary fish, and adults spend a significant part of their time lying on their sides, near the surface, lazily moving their high dorsal and anal fins, alternately putting them out of the water.

sunfish

True, there is an assumption that this is what sick and dying fish do, which is why they are caught without any difficulty and which usually have an empty stomach. Moon fish is a very poor swimmer, unable to overcome strong currents. Sometimes from a ship you can observe how this harmless monster, swaying sluggishly and sticking the top of its dorsal fin out of the water, slowly swims without any visible goal. It feeds on zooplankton: various crustaceans, small squids, eel larvae (leptocephali) and many salps, ctenophores and jellyfish are often found in the stomach. It is possible that large individuals are capable of descending to significant depths. The sunfish is the most prolific fish: one female lays up to 300 million eggs. Pelagic caviar. Spawns in tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, but adult fish carried warm currents, often penetrate into moderate warm waters. In the North Atlantic they reach Newfoundland, Iceland, Great Britain, the western part of the Baltic Sea and along the coast of Norway even to Murman. In our Far Eastern waters in summer they are occasionally found in the northern part Sea of Japan and in the area southern islands Big Kuril ridge. Despite the fact that even large moon fish cannot cause any harm to humans, in some places off the coast South Africa fishermen experience superstitious fear when meeting this fish, considering it a harbinger of trouble, and hastily return to the shore. This is apparently explained by the fact that only before bad weather can the moonfish be seen near the shore, and fishermen associate its appearance with an approaching storm.

Moonfish, sunfish, headfish - these are all names of one oceanic fish, the family of moonfish, or moonfish, (Molidae). This family includes five species of sunfish, the most common of which is Mola mola.
The sunfish is the largest of modern bony fishes, an adult of which on average reaches 3 m in length and 150 kg in mass. The Guinness Book of Records records data on a fish that was caught in 1908 near Sydney; its body length was 4.26 m and its weight was 2235 kg.

Although there is evidence that in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of the United States (New Hampshire), a specimen 5.5 m long was caught, the mass of which remained unrecorded.

The habitat of the sunfish is tropical, subtropical and temperate waters of the world's oceans. However, this sunfish goes only to the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans to spawn. Some adult fish can be carried by warm currents and at the same time penetrate into moderately warm waters.

In the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, fish can be seen near Newfoundland, Iceland, Great Britain, in the Baltic Sea and along the coasts of Norway and Kola Peninsula. You can also meet this fish in the Sea of Japan and the Kuril Islands.

The moon fish surprises with its unusual appearance. Her body is compressed on both sides, while it is very tall and short. If you look at the fish in profile, it seems that it is round and resembles a disk full moon, and the full face of the fish rather resembles a millstone of a mill. Also, if you look closely at this giant, it resembles a fish well known to us - flounder. Thanks to this appearance This fish got its names (moon, sun, head).

The body of the fish is covered with skin, which is quite thick and at the same time elastic, like cartilage. The skin of the fish is protected by small bony tubercles, which serve as scales, since this fish is devoid of true scales. Thanks to this skin structure, the moonfish is not afraid of direct blows from a harpoon; it simply bounces off such armor. The color of the covers is varied; you can see brown, silver-gray, white fish, sometimes with patterns.

The fish does not have a caudal fin, but instead there is a tuberous pseudo-tail. This feature is associated with complete reduction of the pelvic girdle. The dorsal and anal fins are large and fused together. The sunfish swims lying on its side, alternately moving its fins, and small pectoral fins At the same time, they stabilize the body position.

To steer (to control the direction of movement), fish release a stream of water from the mouth or gills. Having this body shape, the moonfish is a very poor swimmer; it uses passive movement. However, at the same time, it takes advantage of the peculiarities of its anatomy - by exposing its large triangular-shaped dorsal fin from the water, it scares off human fishermen who, due to inexperience, may mistake it for a shark.

Basically, this fish swims at a depth of 100-400m. But there are specimens that rise to the surface of the water. Many researchers believe that only sick fish float on the surface of the water. As evidence, the fact is cited that the contents of the stomachs of fish caught on the sea surface are very small.

During a storm, fish move to shallow water. This feature of the moon fish was noticed local residents coastal islands, and consider its appearance in the coastal waters bad omen, as this is a sign of an approaching storm. On the other hand, it is a reliable harbinger of fishermen.

The fish's head ends in a small mouth, similar to a parrot's beak. This non-closing beak is formed by four fused front teeth. The fish sucks in its prey - zooplankton. In the pharynx there are pharyngeal teeth, which are quite long and perform the function of grinding food.

Confirmation of this can be found by looking at gastric content study data. Crustaceans, small squids, ctenophores and jellyfish were found in it. But there is also evidence of active catching of prey, as the famous Russian scientist - ichthyologist Vedensky, said that he witnessed a previously unprecedented hunt for mackerel by the sunfish. During this, the sunfish accelerates as fast as it can with its body and jumps out of the water, splashing onto the surface and stunning the victim.

The fish's skeleton consists mainly of cartilaginous tissue; it has fewer vertebrae, compared to other bony fish, for example, the species mola mola has only 16. An adult sunfish does not have a swim bladder.

The brain is very small - 4 g, which explains the apathetic behavior of the fish. So, for example, a person can freely approach her in water for a sufficient distance. close quarters and she won't be afraid. The sunfish can produce sounds by rubbing its pharyngeal teeth. About which ichthyologist Alfred Bram wrote: “When irritated, the moonfish grunts like a pig.”

These fish are solitary fish; very rarely they can be found in pairs, much less in a school. Their spawning begins in July and ends in October. Mating occurs on the surface of the water. The number of eggs laid by one individual is enormous - 300 million, which indicates a high degree of embryo death. The size of each egg is approximately 0.1 cm.

If you lay out all the eggs in a row, you can get a chain 300 km long. When the moon fish fry are born, they are 6 million times smaller than the volume of their mother. Taking into account the limited habitat of the sunfish, it can be assumed that the survival rate of juveniles is very low.

In his life cycle All moon fish go through several stages of development; development occurs with metamorphosis, since all forms are different and not similar to each other. Having emerged from the eggs, the larvae resemble pufferfish (rounded body, large head).

Then, on the body of the larvae that have not died and grown, wide bone plates appear, the protrusions of which will gradually turn into sharp long spines. As the larva grows, the caudal fin and swim bladder disappear, and all the teeth the fish has grow together into a single plate.

Fish larvae and young fish swim like everyone else bony fish. The fry are very different from the adult fish and until recently they were considered a separate species.

It is difficult for the sunfish to move in the depths of the ocean, so it easily becomes prey for sharks, killer whales, sea lions and others large predators. When hunting them, predators try first of all to bite off the fins in order to completely immobilize the apathetic fish.

The size of the sunfish population is also threatened by humans: in many Asian countries, the meat of this fish is considered medicinal, which is why large-scale fishing is carried out. According to the latest data received by scientists, the meat of these fish is toxic because, like puffer fish, it contains the poison tetrodotoxin, which often leads to death.

But there are still fans who simply eat its meat boiled or fried. In his reviews, Alfred Bram wrote: “The meat of this fish is very tasteless, like glue, with a disgusting smell; If you boil it, you can use it as glue.”

But if you eat the liver, milt or caviar of these fish, then a person will definitely receive serious poisoning, which can lead to death. But for a person in natural environment These fish are not dangerous in their habitat and many lovers of underwater beauty go specifically to Indonesia (Bali) to see it and swim next to it in natural conditions.

For aquarium lovers, we can draw a regrettable conclusion - the sunfish is not suitable for keeping in a closed system - captivity (aquarium, pool), since it does not adapt and quickly dies. This is due to the inability to provide real conditions habitat of these fish.

Since the study of the behavior and lifestyle of these organisms was carried out very superficially, out of five existing species- only one has been studied.

When you meet this fish in the ocean, you can be seriously scared. Of course, a colossus 3-5 meters long and weighing several tons is capable of inspiring fear with its size and completely implausible appearance.

In fact, the sunfish is completely harmless, because it feeds on jellyfish, ctenophores, small fish, crustaceans and other zooplankton, which, unfortunately, turned out to be next to her. This fish does not know how to maneuver and swim quickly in pursuit of prey, but only sucks into its mouth-beak everything edible that happens to be nearby.

Because of its rounded outline, in many languages of the world it is unusual creature called fish moon, or sunfish (sunfish), due to the habit of basking in the sun while floating on the surface. The translation of the German name means " floating head", Polish - " lonely head", the Chinese call this fish " an overturned car" In Latin, the most numerous genus of these fish is called mola, which means "millstone". The fish earned this name not only by its body shape, but also by its grey, rough skin.

Sunfishes belong to the order Pufferfishes, which includes pufferfishes and urchinfishes, with which they have much in common. First of all, these are four fused front teeth, which form a characteristic non-closing beak, which gave Latin name order - Tetraodontiformes (four-toothed). Family of moon-shaped, or moon-fish, ( Molidae) is united by the unusual appearance of these millstone-like animals. It seems that at the dawn of evolution, someone bit off the back of the fish’s body just behind the dorsal and anal fins, and they survived and gave birth to equally strange offspring. Indeed, representatives of this family have fewer vertebrae than others bony fish, for example, in the species mola mola– there are only 16 of them, the pelvic girdle is completely reduced, the caudal fin is absent, and instead of it there is a tuberous pseudo-tail. The family Molidae includes three genera and five species of sunfish:

Genus Masturus

Genus Mola

Genus Ranzania

Almost all members of the sunfish family live in tropical, subtropical, and sometimes temperate waters. They all reach large sizes and have a rounded, laterally compressed shape of the head and body. They have rough skin, no tail bones, and a skeleton made mostly of cartilage. Sunfishes do not have bony plates in their skin, but the skin itself is thick and dense, like cartilage. They are painted in brown, silver-gray, white, sometimes with patterns. These fish lack a swim bladder, which disappears in the early stages of larval development.

Sunfish are the largest of the bony fish. Largest measured mola mola reached a length of 3.3 m and weighed 2.3 tons. There are reports that fish were caught that reached a length of more than five meters. In the process of development from larvae to adults, all sunfish go through several stages of development, and all forms are completely different from each other. The larvae that hatch from the eggs resemble pufferfish, then wide bony plates appear on the body of the grown larvae, which are subsequently preserved only in fish of the genus Ranzania; in the mole and masturus, the protrusions on the plates gradually turn into sharp long spines, which then disappear. The caudal fin and swim bladder gradually disappear, and the teeth merge into a single plate.

Moonfish – (lat. Mola mola), translated from Latin as millstone. This fish can be more than three meters long and weigh about one and a half tons. The largest specimen of the sunfish was caught in New Hampshire, USA. Its length was five and a half meters, there is no data on weight. The shape of the fish’s body resembles a disk; it was this feature that gave rise to the Latin name.

The most studied are the moonfish of the genus Mola. Fish of the genus Masturus are very similar to mola mola, but they have an elongated pseudo-tail and the eyes are more forward. There was an opinion that these fish are anomalous mola, which retained a larval tail, but studies have shown that during the growth of the fish, the rays of the pseudo-tail appear after the reduction of the larval one. Somewhat different from other sunfish are representatives of the genus Ranzania, which reach a small size of 1 m and have a flatter and elongated body shape.

All moonfish use very long and narrow anal and dorsal fins when moving, flapping them like a bird's wings, while small pectoral fins serve as stabilizers. To steer, fish spit a strong stream of water from their mouths or gills. Despite their love to bask in the sun, sunfish live at a respectable depth of several hundred and sometimes thousands of meters.

It is reported that sunfish can produce sounds by rubbing their pharyngeal teeth, which are long and claw-like.

In 1908, this moonfish was caught 65 kilometers off the coast of Sydney; it became entangled in the propellers of the steamship Fiona, which is why the ship was unable to move further. At that time it was the largest specimen of the moon fish caught, it reached a length of 3.1 m and a width of 4.1 m. Photo: danmeth

Sunfish are record holders for the number of eggs laid; one female is capable of laying several hundred million eggs. Despite this fecundity, the number of these extraordinary fish is declining. Except natural enemies, which prey on larvae and adults, the population of sunfish is threatened by humans: in many Asian countries they are considered medicinal and large-scale catching is carried out, although there is information that the meat of these fish contains toxins, like urchinfish and pufferfish, and in internal organs There is a poison called tetrodotoxin, just like puffer fish.

The moon fish has thick skin. It is elastic, and its surface is covered with small bony projections. The larvae of fish of this species and young individuals swim in the usual way. Adult large fish swim on their sides, quietly moving their fins. They seem to lie on the surface of the water, where they are very easy to spot and catch. However, many experts believe that only sick fish swim this way. As an argument, they cite the fact that the stomach of fish caught on the surface is usually empty.

Compared to other fish, the sunfish is a poor swimmer. She is unable to fight the current and often floats at the will of the waves, without a goal. This is observed by sailors, noticing the dorsal fin of this clumsy fish.

In the Atlantic Ocean, the moonfish can reach Great Britain and Iceland, the coast of Norway, and even go further north. IN Pacific Ocean in summer you can see moonfish in the Sea of Japan, more often in the northern part, and near the Kuril Islands.

Although the moonfish looks quite menacing due to its impressive size, it is not scary to humans. However, there are many signs among South African sailors who interpret the appearance of this fish as a sign of trouble. This is probably due to the fact that the sunfish approaches the shore only before the weather worsens. The sailors associate the appearance of the fish with an approaching storm and rush to return to shore. Such superstitions also arise due to unusual looking fish and its swimming method.

Sunfish feed on zooplankton. This is confirmed by studies of fish stomachs, in which crustaceans, small squids, leptocephali, ctenophores and even jellyfish were found. Scientists suggest that the sunfish can reach quite great depths.

Moonfish It is considered very prolific; one female can produce up to 300 million eggs. Fish spawning occurs in the waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Although this species usually spawns in the tropics, currents sometimes carry them into temperate zone warm waters

In the Atlantic Ocean, the moonfish can reach Great Britain and Iceland, the coast of Norway, and even go further north. In the Pacific Ocean in summer you can see moonfish in the Sea of Japan, more often in the northern part, and near the Kuril Islands.