Ocean Sunfish

The Ocean Sunfish is one incredible creature. Personally, I think the Ocean Moonfish would be a more appropriate name. "An ocean sunfish's color can vary from brown to gray or silvery, or even almost white".  However, an orange or yellow variety has yet to been discovered. Deer Moon, I feel that you are often overlooked. Heck. someone even spread a crazy rumor that you are made from cheese. I feel for you little brother of the Sun. With gravitational pull and all, you help keep the Earth where it is in space and not floating around the galaxy. Thanks moon. Sincerely, funnypets.  

The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.

Sunfish live on a diet that consists mainly of jellyfish, but because this diet is nutritionally poor, they consume large amounts in order to develop and maintain their great bulk. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate.

Giant Fish

Seventy five percent of the Earths surface is covered by water. The average depth of the ocean is about 4,267 meters (14,000 feet). Taking all that in to consideration, it shouldn't be a shock to anyone that there are some monstrous fish lurking in the water. Like, the infamous GOLD FISH!


I'm kidding. There is nothing monstrous about the shrimpy goldfish. But here are a couple monstrous fish!


 (In this Aug. 18, 2012 photo provided by Jody Bright, Molly Palmer stands with her husband Shawn Palmer near her catch_ a 12-foot marlin that took more than four hours to get on her team’s boat, weighing it at more than a half-ton _ a would-be world record, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Courtesy Jody Bright)


(A monster white sturgeon weighing an estimated 1,100 pounds and measuring 12 feet, 4 inches was caught and released on the Fraser River, a British Columbia waterway famous for its big sturgeon...just not this big.)


(Catches of white sturgeon averaging 30 to 100 pounds are typical on the Fraser, even an occasional 250-pounder, but nothing as massive as this sturgeon, believed to be the biggest freshwater fish ever caught on rod and reel in North America...and possibly the oldest.)


I don't know why I've been frequenting fish lately. Maybe I should stop by a Red Lobster. 

The Alligator Gar

Though it features "alligator" in its name, this animal is not nearly as scary as the real alligator. However, it is the largest gar species alive today and is only found in the Americas. It is prehistoric-- it lived with the dinosaurs! The alligator gar is only aggressive when provoked. If you try to catch it, it will put up a fight. Alligator gar fishing is a sport of choice in many leisure fishing circles. It may look quite scary with its double row of upper sharp teeth, capability to grow up to 10 feet long, and its recorded weights of over 300 pounds. The scariest part? This fish is a brackish and saltwater fish. Imagine water skiing in the middle of a lake and upon a fall, having your leg brushed by none other than the Alligator Gar. I'd be a little scared, to say the least. You can see where this fish gets its name. It looks like an alligator in size and shape, and it also features sharp teeth and sometimes aggressive behavior.

The middle picture features a recently caught gar caught in an Oklahoma lake, supposed to weigh 327 pounds and measure to be 8 feet 10 inches tall. There are debates about whether or not this information is accurate, but nonetheless, the immensity of the fish is unbelievable. Although bigger numbers have been reported such as the ones above, the "world record" Alligator Gar was caught in 1951 in Rio Grande, Mexico, weighing 279 pounds. No one has beaten this world record since because of strict regulations on fishing, differing standards of weighing scales, and other similar factors. However, a 302 pound gar was also reported in the same area at the same time period.




Although you probably haven't awed at the cuteness factor of this slimy brethren, you've at least learned something interesting about a prehistoric creature and its current popularity with the competitive fishing crowds!