Freaky, Funky Mola Mola Sunfish Washes Up, Not Found Much on Oregon Coast Beaches

Published 8/18/24 at 4:35 p.m.
By Andre' GW Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection

(Gearhart, Oregon) – Another one of those wacky sunfish just showed up on the north Oregon coast, this time a slightly more common variety than the rarity that washed ashore a few months back. (All photos Seaside Aquarium)

Seaside Aquarium’s Tiffany Boothe said a Mola mola came ashore about a half mile from the Sunset Beach approach today (Sunday), an incident that's notable because they don't wash up very often. Although seen out at sea with regularity, they don't pop up on shore every year.

This one was rather small, Boothe said.

“While this fish is only a little over five feet, Mola molas or ocean sunfish can get up to 10 feet and weigh as much as 5,000 pounds,” Boothe told Oregon Coast beach Connection.

According to Oregon coast experts like Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mola mola don't normally live up this far. When they appear in the Oregon / Washington coast region it’s usually because warmer currents are out off these shores, and they get somewhat “tricked” into coming this far north. This can get problematic for them, especially if it’s winter, as the beasties can get cold-stunned. It’s the same trick-of-the-tide that brings sea turtles up to these coastlines in winter, and then when the warm currents run out the turtles usually get killed by the cold.

This one isn't like the last one that showed up earlier in the year, and it turned out to be a rare discovery on the Oregon coast. That now-famous fish was a Mola tecta, the Hoodwinker Sunfish. Scientific First for Oregon Coast: New Kind of Sunfish Confirmed at Gearhart

“There are three different species of sunfish in the genus Mola: Mola mola, Mola tecta, and Mola alexandrini,” Boothe said. “All three can be found all over the globe and are widely distributed throughout the world's oceans, except for the polar regions.”

Earlier this year, a breed of Mola came to light when it was found by Seaside Aquarium.

“The newest species to join the genus Mola was the Mola tecta, which was just recently discovered in 2017,” Boothe said. “Only a few specimens have been examined and even fewer sampled. So, when the Mola tecta washed ashore it caused quite a stir. “

That it did. That story wound up including an international element, as New Zealand researcher Marianne Nyegaard caught wind of it, and even came up to the Oregon coast at one point. She was the one who had discovered the new breed of Mola.

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So, what is the difference between this one and its more oft-seen cousin?

“Visually the difference includes a T-shaped pattern on the clavus, the thick rudder-like structure at the rear of the fish also known as its steering fin on the Mola tecta,” Boothe said. “Mola tectas also do not get quite as big as the Mola mola, reaching only 7.9 feet and weighing 4,000 pounds.”

It's been dubbed a “new species hiding in plain sight,” Boothe said. MORE BELOW:

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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