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The ocean sunfish or common mola, ''Mola mola'', is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight between . 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 consisting mainly of jellyfish, but because this diet is nutritionally poor, they consume large amounts to develop and maintain their great bulk. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate,〔 up to 300,000,000 at a time.〔Freedman, J. A., & Noakes, D. L. G. (2002) Why are there no really big bony fishes? A point-of-view on maximum body size in teleosts and elasmobranchs. ''Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.'' 12(4): 403-416.〕 Sunfish fry resemble miniature pufferfish, with large pectoral fins, a tail fin, and body spines uncharacteristic of adult sunfish. Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, killer whales, and sharks will consume them. Among humans, sunfish are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, including Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. In the EU, regulations ban the sale of fish and fishery products derived from the Molidae family.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin )〕 Sunfish are frequently caught in gillnets. A member of the order Tetraodontiformes, which also includes pufferfish, porcupinefish, and filefish, the sunfish shares many traits common to members of this order. The ocean sunfish, ''Mola mola'', is the type species of the genus. ==Naming and taxonomy== Many of the sunfish's various names allude to its flattened shape. Its specific name, ''mola'', is Latin for "millstone", which the fish resembles because of its grey color, rough texture, and rounded body. Its common English name, sunfish, refers to the animal's habit of sunbathing at the surface of the water. The Dutch-, Portuguese-, French-, Catalan-, Spanish-, Italian-, Russian-, Greek- and German-language names, respectively ''maanvis'', ''peixe lua'', ''poisson lune'', ''peix lluna'', ''pez luna'', ''pesce luna'', ''рыба-луна'', ''φεγγαρόψαρο'' and ''Mondfisch'', mean "moon fish", in reference to its rounded shape. In German, the fish is also known as ''Schwimmender Kopf'', or "swimming head". In Polish, it is named ''samogłów'', meaning "head alone", because it has no true tail. The Chinese translation of its academic name is ''fan-che yu'' 翻車魚, meaning "toppled wheel fish". The ocean sunfish has various superseded binomial synonyms, and was originally classified in the pufferfish genus, as ''Tetraodon mola''. It is now placed in its own genus, ''Mola'', with two species: ''Mola mola'' and ''Mola ramsayi''. The ocean sunfish, ''Mola mola'', is the type species of the genus. The ''Mola'' genus belongs to the Molidae family. This family comprises three genera: ''Masturus'', ''Mola'' and ''Ranzania''. The common name "sunfish" without qualifier is used to describe the Molidae marine family as well as the freshwater sunfishes in the family Centrarchidae which are unrelated to Molidae. On the other hand, the name "ocean sunfish" and "mola" refer only to the family Molidae.〔 The Molidae family belongs to the order Tetraodontiformes, which includes pufferfish, porcupinefish, and filefish. It shares many traits common to members of this order, including the four fused teeth that form the characteristic beak and give the order its name (''tetra''=four, ''odous''=tooth, and ''forma''=shape). Indeed, sunfish fry resemble spiky pufferfish more than they resemble adult molas. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ocean sunfish」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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