The giant sunfish ( Mola alexandrini ) had a small but impressive secret : its larval form was a mystery to ocean scientists . Until now . A team of scientists from Australia and New Zealand have discovered the early life stage of one of the largest fish in the world and the surprising thing is that the larvae are small and soft, incredibly small compared to their adult size, and it has the resemblance of a snowflake.
The sunfish spends its life moving between the depths of the ocean and the surface of the sea, where it can be found basking in the sun and receiving a parasitic treatment from seagulls.
The female sunfish holds the record for the highest potential fecundity of any vertebrate : the adult Mola mola harbors 300 million eggs . Given its enormous ovulatory production, scientists were perplexed by the fact that its eggs had never been found in nature. And they were too small!
The sample the researchers collected was collected off the coast of New South Wales in 2017, but conducting DNA analysis on the small and fragile specimen, which was only 5 millimeters in size, presented quite a challenge.
The team now hopes to use their findings to identify more collections of larvae of this species in museums and draw a clearer picture of the life cycle of these marine giants.
Reference: Australian Museum
