A contribution to the discussion of this pretty neat fish:

In the 80's, we saw numerous mola lying on their sides at the surface in the
deep water of Monterey Bay, CA.  Many of the fish had a couple of gulls
sitting on the water next to them, and it appeared as if the gulls were
pecking at their sides.  The fish lay there passively despite the action of
the gulls.  As soon as our boat approached, the gulls flew off and the mola
(molas?  molae?) oriented vertically and swam away at high speed.  Were the
gulls picking off parasites?

Mola were caught several times in the purse seines used Bill Pearcy's
juvenile salmon research program in Oregon.  The small ones (<1 m) I saw on
the cruises had a  pretty smelly and  sticky mucus coating.  Despite this
mucus, they all seemed to have a fair number of Argulus-like and lernaeopod
parasites.  They seemed to handle the stress of capture fairly well, and
swam powerfully away from the boat after release.  A 3-m long specimen was
captured on one of the cruises I missed; according to the participants, the
fish greatly endeared itself to the scientists by knocking down the rather
scuzzy captain of the chartered fishing vessel and covering him with its
nasty mucus.  They got the fish back in the water in good shape.

Jon Shenker
Florida Institute of Technology

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Lord" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2000 5:35 AM
Subject: Re: Mola mola migrations


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]
Tel: +44 (0)1481 700688
Fax: +44 (0)1481 700699
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