What is The Ocean Sunfish?

Ocean sunfish have fooled me more than once. I don't think ocean sunfish start their day thinking about duping some guy fishing on the beach, but even done unintentionally, deceit is deceit. Scientists call the ocean sunfish Mola mola, which I guess is a nice name, if not repetitive, but several times I've overreacted and mistakenly called it "shark". I don't think ocean sunfish laugh that much, but if they could, my identification of these 1300-lb jellyfish-eaters as nasty, fearsome predators could at least raise a smile.

As a roaming surfcaster, I trek Cape Cod beaches searching for feeding striped bass and marauding bluefish breaking on the surface. You know they're there by the telltale boils on the surface as they chase frantic baitfish to the top of the water column and wreak havoc on them. As a truly optimistic fisherman, my eyes and mind see things I want them to see. That fantasy always includes the fin of a cruising shark in the surf or the silhouette of a big fin on the horizon. I think ocean sunfish enjoy fulfilling that dream.

Ocean sunfish don't really resemble sharks at all. And except for the fact that they're both fish, the mola is not related to sharks at all. Unlike sharks, carrying the burden of their reputation as killers, ocean sunfish are peaceful souls, minding their own business.

The gaffe stems from the fin. The ocean sunfish is shaped somewhat like the side-to-side flattened sunfish we all caught as children with garden worms in the local pond. This mola, though, is mostly head and fin with a diminutive tail that looks like it was bitten off by a passing orca. So picture that little sunny maxing out at about 13 feet with this huge, out-of-proportion dorsal fin poking well above the ocean surface, steering, not propelling itself, with its sawed-off tail. .

Found as far north as Newfoundland, ocean sunfish are peculiar fish that roam the open seas, munching up jellyfish and related forms as they drift along. As I mentioned, because of their foreshortened tail, these fish are not very mobile. Mostly they drift along in offshore ocean currents, feeding on the jellyfish caught in the same flow. Sightings near shore are not frequent, but they're not all that rare either.

In the few instances that I made molas smile, I was casting from shore, fishing and daydreaming about that trophy bass about to attack my lure. Once, at the Cape Cod Canal, I looked up to see an enormous dorsal fin glide leisurely past my plug in the fast moving water. My mind's eye always relates big fins to big sharks. So like the young girl in the movie Jaws ( it's just about impossible to write any kind of essay mentioning sharks without a single reference to that definitive shark yarn), I shouted, "Shark! Shark!" Well, from the looks I got from the locals fishing nearby, I suddenly felt like the outsider that I was. The nearest fisherman, a burly, manly one at that, sidled over to me and whispered, "It's a sunfish, dear. It's only an ocean sunfish. They're harmless". I sensed a grin emanating from that mola. Maybe even a giggle.

Ocean sunfish are large, peculiar-looking fish, with or without a sense of humor. Who knows? But the truth is, these jellyfish-eaters may be out there giving sharks a good name.