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Tetraodontiformes (Puffers and filefishes) >
Molidae (Molas or Ocean Sunfishes)
Etymology: Ranzania: Because of Camillo Ranzani, 1775-1841, catholic priest and naturalist (Ref. 45335).
Eponymy: Camillo Ranzani (1775–1841) was an Italian priest and naturalist who was director of the Museum of Natural History of Bologna (1803–1841). (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; pelagic-oceanic; depth range 1 - 140 m (Ref. 58302). Subtropical; 71°N - 55°S, 180°W - 180°E
Cosmopolitan. Western Atlantic: Florida (USA), Martinique, Venezuela (Ref. 51183), and Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Madeira to Scandinavia (Ref. 4711); Dakar, Senegambie, and Sierra Leone (Ref. 6952); South Africa. Eastern Pacific: central California, USA to Chile; rare north of Mexico (Ref. 2850). Indian Ocean: Madagascar (Ref. 33390), Mauritius (Ref. 58078), Reunion (Ref. 53568), Iran (Ref. 86583), Australia (49596). West Pacific: Japan (Ref. 559), China (Ref. 57879), Taiwan (Ref. 12711), New Zealand (Ref. 5755).
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26340)
Oceanic (Ref. 2850), epipelagic (Ref. 2340), and generally solitary (Ref. 9317). Feeds on planktonic crustaceans (Ref. 4424).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Tortonese, E., 1990. Molidae. p. 1077-1079. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2. (Ref. 6952)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: bycatch
Tools
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 14.7 - 27.9, mean 23.9 °C (based on 1566 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 1.0312 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02455 (0.01023 - 0.05892), b=3.01 (2.80 - 3.22), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.7 ±0.47 se; based on food items.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): High vulnerability (60 of 100).