Dear Rodney:

Thank you for your email about Mola mola.  I have had some interesting replies to my original request for information.  Mola mola can be heavily parasitised with external copepods, as well as many internal parasites. I am wondering if the breaching behaviour is to do with attempted removal of external parasites?

Regarding their leaps out of the water.. Dr. Tierney Thys from Monterey wrote the following:

THEY MAY APPEAR WEAK BUT I HAVE SEEN THEM FLY OUT OF THE WATER BY AS MUCH AS TWO BODY LENGTHS. GRANTED, THEY HAVE HARDLY ANY RED MUSCLE SO THEY HAVEN'T MUCH ENDURANCE BUT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF STRONG BURST SPEEDS. THEY VERY WELL COULD BE FOLLOWING CURRENT OF JELLIES BUT WE KNOW EVEN LESS ABOUT CNIDARIANS. A SIMILAR THING HAPPENS IN MONTEREY BAY.  

This fish is more interesting than I could have possibly imagined. A specimen at Monterey Bay Aquarium grew from 57 lbs. to 880 lbs. in ten months (from August 1997 to November 1998).  All the records I have for Mola mola in the Eastern Atlantic are for small specimens.  In answer to my questions Dr. Thys wrote:

ANECDOTAL MIGRATION PATTERNS HAVE ALSO BEEN REPORTED FOR MOLAS IN THE WESTERN ATLANTIC-JUMPING INTO THE GULFSTREAM IN THE EARLY SUMMER RIDING IT UP TO NOVA SCOTIA AND THEN COMING CLOSER TO SHORE AND HEADING DOWN SOUTH.  NO ONE'S EVER TAGGED ONE TO SEE IF THIS IS TRUE BUT IT IS A REASONABLE HYPOTHESIS.
PRESUMABLY THEY HEAD SOUTH OR INTO THE SARGASSO SEA. LITTLE MOLA LARVA HAVE BEEN SAMPLED FROM THERE SO IT MAY BE A BREEDING GROUND.
I am wondering why the Mola mola's of the western Atlantic (on superficial evidence) appear to be so much larger than those seen in the eastern Atlantic? Is it possible that they migrate around the entire North Atlantic basin?
Best Wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Richard
Richard Lord
Guernsey GY1 1BQ
Great Britain

Email:  [log in to unmask]
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-----Original Message-----
From:   Rodney Rountree [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   19 August 2000 20:25
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Mola mola migrations

Richard,

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