Do you have photos of Sunfish (aka Mola) sighted off the coast of British Columbia or Alaska? If you do, you can help research into these fascinating fish. 

It’s so exciting that there are actually two species of Mola in the NE Pacific Ocean – the Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) AND the Hoodwinker Sunfish (Mola tecta). 

As the name “Hoodwinker” suggests. Mola tecta was hiding in plain sight. (“tecta” also means “hidden” in Latin). It  was only in 2017 that research was published on the very existence of the species and it was thought to only range in the temperate waters of the southern hemisphere. Only since 2019 has it been questioned whether they are found in colder waters and – they sure are! They’ve been mistaken as being Mola mola.

So, if you have Mola photos taken along the coast from California to Alaska, please contribute your data to this citizen science project by filling in the data form at the link below.

We are helping researchers Dr. Marianne Nyegaard, Dr. Tierney Thys, and Tor Mowatt-Larssen in their work to better understand Sunfish. We’ll report back if your sighting is a Mola mola or a Mola tecta. Sightings of both species are of great value. 

Click here to submit Mola data.

Thank you!

Further resources: 

• June 7, 2024 – Recording of Dr. Marianne Nyegaard’s MERS Ocean Day webinar on Mola. 
• March 1, 2021 – Presentation by Dr. Marianne Nyegaard on Mola tecta 
• February 2, 2021 – CBC article “Meet the Hoodwinker, the ocean sunfish we misidentified for years” 
• Nyegaard, M., E. Sawai, N. Gemmell, J. Gillum, N.R. Loneragan, Y. Yamanoue and A.L. Stewart, 2017. Hiding in broad daylight: molecular and morphological data reveal a new ocean sunfish species (Tetrodontiformes: Molidae) that has eluded recognition. Zool. J. of the Linn. Soc., 1-28.