Open Access
Subscription Access
Open Access
Subscription Access
First Record of a Rare Sunfish, Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758) from Coastal Waters of West Bengal, India
Subscribe/Renew Journal
The rare Ocean sunfish, Mola mola (Linnaeus 1758), is reported herewith first time from West Bengal coast of India based on two specimens collected from Digha Mohona (21°37.843'N, 87°32.827'E) by using trawl nets. This forms the second sunfish species from this coast after Ranzania laevis was recorded 18 years back. Past records of this species in Indian waters also discussed.
Keywords
First Record, Mola mola, Molidae, Sunfish, West Bengal.
User
Subscription
Login to verify subscription
Font Size
Information
- Chellappa, M., Balasubramaniann, T. S. and Arumugam, G. 2002. On the occurrence of Sunfish along Gulf of the Mannar. Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser., 174: 10.
- Chellappa, M., Balasubramanian, T.S. and Arumugam, G. 2006. Occurrence of Sun fishes along Tuticorin Coast. Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser., 188: 22.
- Frafjord, K., Bakken, T., Kubicek, L., Ronning, A.H. and Syvertsen, P.O. 2017. Records of ocean sunfish Mola mola along the Norwegian coast spanning two centuaries, 1801-2015. J. Fish. Biol., 91(5): 1365-1377. Doi: 10.1111/jfb.13456. https://doi.org/10.1111/ jfb.13456
- Fraser-Brunner, A. 1951. The ocean sunfishes (family Molidae). Bull. Br. Mus., 1: 89–121.
- Froese, R. and Pauly, D. (Editors) 2017. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. Available from: www.fishbase.org, version
- Fulling, G.L., Dagma, F., Knight, K. and Hoggard, W. 2007. Distribution of Molidae in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Gulf and Caribbean Research, 19: 53-67. https://doi.org/10.18785/gcr.1902.07
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015. Version 2015-4. Available from: www.iucnredlist.org
- Kar, S., Chakraborty, R., Mitra, S. and Chaterjee, T.K., 2000, First record of the sunfish Ranzania laevis (Pennant) (Pisces: Osteichthyes: Perciformes: Molidae) from the west Bengal coast. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc., 97(2): 288-289.
- Khan, M.Z. 1975. On the sunfish, Mola mola (L), a new record from Indian waters. Indian J. Fish., 22(1& 2): 295-296.
- Monoj Kumar, B., Kizhakudan, J.K., Sujith, T. and Dinesh Babu, A.P. 1998. A record of Sun fish Mola mola from the coastal waters of Verval. Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser., 157: 21-23.
- Monoj Kumar, P.P. and Pavithran, P.P. 2007. First record of ocean sunfish, Mola mola from Malabar coast. Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser., 192: 15-16.
- Murugan, S., Lyla, P.S. and Ajmal Khan, S. 2007. Occurrence of sunfish Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758) in Parangipettai waters (Southeast coast of India). Seshaiyana, 15 (2): 15-17.
- Nyegaard, M., Sawai, E., Gemmell, N., Gillum, J., Loneragan, N.R., Yamanoue, Y. and Stewart, A.L. 2017. Hiding in broad daylight: molecular and morphological data reveal a new ocean sunfish species (Tetrodontiformes: Molidae) that has eluded recognition. Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx040
- Ozturk, R.C. and Ozbulut, E.2016. First record of the ocean sunfish, Mola mola (Linnaeus 1758), from the Black Sea. J. Black Sea/ Mediterranean Environment., 22(2): 190-193.
- Palsson, J. and Astthorsson, O.S. 2017. New and historical records of the ocean sunfish Mola mola in Icelandic waters. Journal of Fish Biology., 90(3): 1126-1132. doi: 10.1111/jfb.13237. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13237
- Pope, E.C., Hays, G.C., Thys, T.M., Doyle, T.K., Sims, D.W., Queiroz, N., Hobson, V.J., Kubicek, L. and Houghton, J.D.R. 2010. The biology and ecology of the ocean sunfish, Mola mola: a review of current knowledge and future research perspectives. Rev. Fish Biol. Fisheries, 20(4): 471-487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-009-9155-9
- Potter I.F. and Huntting W.H. 2011. Vertical movement and behaviour of the ocean sunfish, Mola mola, in the northwest Atlantic. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 396: 138–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2010.10.014
- Praveen, Dube, N., Krupesh Sharma, S.R. and Philipose, K.K. 2013. Note on the ocean sunfish, Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758) landed at Karwar, west coast of India. Marine Fisheries Information Service; T & E Ser., 217: 31-32.
- Ram Bhaskar, B., Rao, P., Rama Murty, M., Maheswarudu, G., Durga Prasad, Y.V.K., Phani Prakash, K. and Susheel Kumar, J.D. 1988.
- Rare occurrence of sunfish Mola mola (Linnaeus) from the coastal waters off Visakhapatnam (Bay of Bengal). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 85: 629-631.
- Roach, J. 2003. World’s heaviest bony fish discovered? National Geographic News. Available from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0513_030513_sunfish.html
- Sawai, E., Yamanoue, Y., Nyegaard, M. and Sakai, Y. 2017. Redescription of the bump-head sunfish Mola alexandrini (Ranzani 1839), senior synonym of Mola ramsayi (Giglioli 1883), with designation of a neotype for Mola mola (Linnaeus 1758) (Tetraodontiformes: Molidae). Ichthyol. Res., 65 (1): (1-19 online) 142-160. 10.1007/s10228-017-0603-6.
- Silvani, L., Gazo, M. and Aguilar, A. 1999. Spanish driftnet fishing and incidental catches in the western Mediterranean. Biological Conservation, 90: 79-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(98)00079-2
- Vivekenandan E. 2013. “The trawl Fisheries of the western Bay of Bengal”. Presented at the APFIC Regional Expert Workshop on Tropical Trawl Fishery Management, 30th September - 4th October 2013, Phuket, Thailand. Available from: http://www.fao.org/3/a-bo085e.pdf
- Yennawar, P., Mohapatra, A. and Tudu, P.C. 2017. An account of Ichthyofauna of Digha coast, West Bengal. Rec. zool. Surv. India, 117(1): 4-21. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v117/i1/2017/117289
Abstract Views: 344
PDF Views: 0