>
Tetraodontiformes (Puffers and filefishes) >
Molidae (Molas or Ocean Sunfishes)
Etymology: Ranzania: Because of Camillo Ranzani, 1775-1841, catholic priest and naturalist (Ref. 45335).
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecologia
marino; distribuzione batimetrica 1 - 140 m (Ref. 58302). Subtropical; 71°N - 55°S, 180°W - 180°E
Cosmopolitan. Western Atlantic: Florida (USA), Martinique, Venezuela (Ref. 51183), and Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Madeira to Scandinavia (Ref. 4711); Dakar, Senegambie, and Sierra Leone (Ref. 6952); South Africa. Eastern Pacific: central California, USA to Chile; rare north of Mexico (Ref. 2850). Indian Ocean: Madagascar (Ref. 33390), Mauritius (Ref. 58078), Reunion (Ref. 53568), Iran (Ref. 86583), Australia (49596). West Pacific: Japan (Ref. 559), China (Ref. 57879), Taiwan (Ref. 12711), New Zealand (Ref. 5755).
Size / Peso / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 100.0 cm TL maschio/sesso non determinato; (Ref. 26340)
Spine dorsali (totale) : 0; Raggi dorsali molli (totale) : 18; Spine anali: 0; Raggi anali molli: 20. Caudal fin present in postlarvae but resorbed during metamorphosis and replaced by a clavus (Ref. 4424). Body elongated, Mouth slit vertical (Ref. 35388).
Oceanic (Ref. 2850), epipelagic (Ref. 2340), and generally solitary (Ref. 9317). Feeds on planktonic crustaceans (Ref. 4424).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturities | Riproduzione | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larve
Tortonese, E., 1990. Molidae. p. 1077-1079. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2. (Ref. 6952)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Strumenti
Special reports
Download XML
Fonti Internet
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 14.7 - 27.9, mean 23.9 °C (based on 1566 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 1.0312 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02455 (0.01018 - 0.05918), b=3.02 (2.81 - 3.23), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.7 ±0.47 se; based on food items.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): High vulnerability (60 of 100).