Evan+Holliday-+Ocean+Sunfish

=Ocean Sunfish=

Scientific Name:
//Mola Mola//
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Natural Habitat and Location
The ocean sunfish's is a common fish that is found in every ocean. They live in the more temperate and tropical areas and are more densely populated closer they come to the equator. They also are much more likely to live in open water. They usually stay near the surface and make occasional dives to get prey. The climate they require is a very warm one as they will actually not function correctly if the water is too cold for them.
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Characteristics
The ocean sunfish is the largest bony fish known to man. The average size of the ocean sunfish is six feet long and the average weight is 2200 pounds. However, the largest sunfish ever recorded was ten feet long and weighed 4927 pounds. The female mola mola lays a very large amount of eggs; as large as 300,000,000 at once. About three million eggs have been found in a female mola mola's ovaries. Currently, not too much is known about the growth rate of young sunfish in the wild. After hatching the sunfish resembles a puffer fish but as it matures it begins to resemble more a grown mola mola. The mola mola is not a very ferocious predator for it's size. Despite being about six feet long and weighing over a ton, the main diet of the ocean sunfish is jellyfish. However they also eat portuguese men of war, squids, and other smaller fish.

Predators and Parasites
Because of it's size the mola mola does not have too many predators. Its main predators are sea lions and orca whales. However, the mola mola is known for having and unusually high amount of parasites. 40 different types of parasites have been recorded on the mola mola. The parasites help keep the sunfish population in check. It is a delicate balance as there are not too many predators for such a large fish. Another threat to the mola mola is fishing by humans. The mola mola is not targeted by is the most often bycaught fish. Meaning being caught in a net when the fishermen are targeting another type of fish.
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Population Expansion
The ocean sunfish is of course not a perfect replacement for the leatherback turtle but is as close a match as possible. It can seamlessly fill almost all of the niche requirements that the leatherback turtle has.

Food Web
Both being very large animals neither the ocean sunfish nor the leatherback turtle has many predators. The only predators of the sunfish are sea lions and orca whales, the leatherback turtle really only has predators when they are in the younger stages of life since when they reach adulthood there really aren't many predators for them. This evens out the numbers on both species and the numbers of each animal will be kept in check without being wiped out. On the other side of the web both the ocean sunfish and the leatherback turtle eat essentially the same things. Both primarily consume jellyfish and not too much else. This will keep the ecosystem running smoothly. Because both sides of the spectrum of the food web are filled the mola mola will neither be wiped out when introduced to the ecosystem nor will it become invasive and destroy the delicate alignment.

Climate Needs
The leatherback turtle climate needs differ throughout its lifetime. As a juvenile the leatherback can only live in temperate waters. As they mature they are able to live in colder waters, but still prefer the more tropical areas. Like the leatherback turtle, the ocean sunfish also prefers warmer water and is in fact unable to function if the water is too cold. Both also prefer deep water and generally stay around the equator.

Species in Competition
The leatherback turtle's numbers are dwindling and not too much is actually known about the numbers of the ocean sunfish. The sunfish does lay an impressive number of eggs but it is not known how many of those survive to become adults. However, since both of the leatherback turtle and the ocean sunfish are on the same level in the food web they will have very close to the same population. Therefore, it should not take very long for the ocean sunfish to replace the leatherback turtle if the need arises.

Work Cited
Life History. (n.d.). The Mola Mola Program. Retrieved from http://www.tunalab.unh.edu/molalifehistory.htm Life History. (2005). Leatherback Turtle Program. Retrieved from http://turtlelab.unh.edu/leatherbacklifehistory.html Life History of the Ocean Sunfish. (2007). The Ocean Sunfish. Retrieved from http://www.oceansunfish.org/lifehistory.php Migdalski, E. C., & Fichter, G. S. (1976). //The Fresh and Salt Water Fishes of// //the World//. Alfred A. Knopf.