The Ocean Sunfish: A Strange Swimmer PDF

# The Ocean Sunfish: A Strange Swimmer by Annie Kiyonaga When you picture a fish, you might think of a little clownfish, darting quickly in and out of ocean reefs. Or maybe you think of a catfish, slithering smoothly along the bottom of a river. At the very least, you probably picture an animal th...

# The Ocean Sunfish: A Strange Swimmer by Annie Kiyonaga When you picture a fish, you might think of a little clownfish, darting quickly in and out of ocean reefs. Or maybe you think of a catfish, slithering smoothly along the bottom of a river. At the very least, you probably picture an animal that's good at swimming! This description doesn't match one very peculiar fish, though. A *Mola mola*, or ocean sunfish, is probably pretty far from what you imagined. Ocean sunfish aren't like other fish. One aquarium described ocean sunfish as looking like the "invention of a mad scientist." So what makes these fish so strange? Well, for one, the ocean sunfish's size is remarkable. They are the largest bony fish in the world. (The bony fish category means that sharks and rays are not counted.) The largest ocean sunfish can weigh about 5,000 pounds. That's heavier than most adult rhinoceroses! These massive fish have very short tails, unlike most other fish. Their bodies are tall and flat. They also don't have the gas-filled swim bladders that most other bony fish have. Swim bladders are organs inside most bony fish that are filled with gas, which allow them to float more easily. Because of their shape and lack of swim bladders, ocean sunfish are not very fast swimmers. A lot of the time, they float along near the ocean's surface. However, scientists have discovered that these huge fish can also dive deep into the ocean. When ocean sunfish dive down into the ocean, they are looking for food to eat. Ocean sunfish mostly eat jellyfish. They also sometimes eat squid, fish, algae, and other small marine animals. The way that ocean sunfish eat their prey is another strange aspect of these fish. Ocean sunfish don't eat like how most other fish eat. Their mouths are stuck permanently open. Their mouths have even been described as looking like beaks. The beak-like openings are actually two bony plates made of teeth fused together. A lot of meat-eating fish use their teeth to capture and hold their prey, and then they swallow their prey in chunks or sometimes whole. Instead of capturing and holding jellyfish, ocean sunfish suck jellyfish in and out of their mouths quickly. Eventually, this back-and-forth suction breaks down the jellyfish into chunks that ocean sunfish can digest. Ocean sunfish are able to eat jellyfish without getting stung in their bodies because of a special mucus lining.This lining protects their digestive system from jellyfish tentacles.