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ALEXANDRE MEINESZ

Ocean sunfish

In Dive.Explo360: Mediterranean · Northeast Atlantic · Atlantic Ocean · Indian Ocean · Pacific Ocean · Caribbean Sea

The Ocean sunfish is an open-water giant with an immediately recognisable outline. An opportunistic predator, it alternates deep dives, surface visits and occasional visits to cleaning stations near underwater features.

Habitat de Ocean sunfish Habitat
Open water, Wreck, Rocky habitat
Profondeur de Ocean sunfish Depth
0-480 m
Groupe biologique de Ocean sunfish Group
Pelagic fish
Rôle écologique de Ocean sunfish Role
Predator

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

With its almost circular body compressed like a disc, the Ocean sunfish looks unlike any other large Mediterranean fish. Its tail is reduced to a fringe that abruptly closes off the rear of the body. It moves through coordinated beats of its dorsal and anal fins. Its small mouth, reduced gill openings and thick, rough, mucus-covered skin complete this distinctive outline.

WHERE DOES IT LIVE?

An offshore fish, it mainly occupies open water from the surface to more than 400 metres deep. In the Mediterranean, however, it may appear near the coast where wrecks, drop-offs or isolated underwater pinnacles offer suitable cleaning areas. Encounters remain irregular and probably depend on its feeding and vertical movements.

WHAT DOES IT EAT?

Its diet is not limited to jellyfish. It also catches comb jellies, salps, crustaceans, squid, zooplankton, larvae and small fish. This varied diet is that of an opportunistic predator able to exploit different layers of the water column.

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