The Sunfish (Mola mola): Nature’s Strangest and Dumbest-Looking Fish

The brilliant animated storytellers at Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell released a video diving into one of the strangest creatures in the sea: the Sunfish, also known as Mola mola. Their signature colorful animation explores how this enormous, awkward fish defies evolutionary expectations while somehow thriving in oceans around the world.

Why Predators Hate the Sunfish

Sunfish sport a body plan that looks more like a half-finished sketch than a predator of the deep: a stubby spine, thick bone plating, no real dorsal fin, and an overall shape that resembles a floating dinner plate. At full size, Mola can grow over 2,000 pounds, becoming so large and so nutritionally worthless that most predators avoid them. Sharks, sea lions, and even orcas sometimes take a test bite, only to spit them out, deciding that these parasite-packed “jelly donuts” aren’t worth the trouble.

Still, despite their clumsy design, Sunfish have survived for millions of years. They’re not flashy hunters, but they’re effective ones, relying on their huge eyes and slow, deliberate movements to feast on zooplankton, fish larvae, squid, shrimp, starfish, and just about any soft-bodied morsel that drifts into their path.

Pancakes of the Sea

When they’ve had enough of the cold depths, Mola mola swim to the surface, where they flop sideways like giant pancakes. They bask in the sunlight to warm up, but it’s also a chance to get cleaned. Seabirds like albatrosses swoop down to pick parasites off their skin, while smaller reef fish nibble away at the rest. It’s an ocean spa day, Sunfish-style.

A Fish That Looks Like It Was Left Unfinished

Perhaps their most astonishing feature is growth. A single larva, barely the size of a pinhead, can grow 60 million times its original weight on its way to adulthood. The most extreme growth spurt in the animal kingdom. Fueled by endless meals of small prey, the Sunfish reaches monstrous proportions in record time.

Dumb… But Brilliant

Kurzgesagt’s Sunfish video shows that this bizarre ocean giant is not only one of nature’s weirdest experiments, but also one of its most successful. So, is the Sunfish the dumbest animal alive? Maybe in looks. Maybe in the way it drifts, flops, and bumbles through the sea. However, in reality, the Mola mola is a master of survival. Evolution took a strange detour with this one, but the results work. The Sunfish may be ridiculous, but it’s also proof that in the ocean, there’s more than one way to win the survival game.