World's biggest bony fish gets its closeup

World's biggest bony fish gets its closeup A video captured by divers off the coast of Portugal shows a rare up-close encounter with a massive Mola Mola, which dwarfs the humans that swim alongside as it moves slowly in for a selfie. For a fish that appears to have just half a body, Mola Mola can grow to enormous dimensions. These unusually shaped creatures, also known as ocean sunfish, are the heaviest bony fish in the world, and can weigh nearly 5,000 pounds. The encounter was filmed by photographer Miguel Pereira in October near Santa Maria Island in Azores, Portugal. 'A few days before, my camera was damaged when the underwater housing flooded,' Miguel Pereira said in the video's description on YouTube. 'The bad luck was compensated when diving with a GoPro I saw the giant Sunfish almost at surface level and practically static. 'The Sunfish seemed not to be bothered by our presence at all and followed us for 15 minutes.' In the video, divers look comparatively tiny swimming next to the docile beast. With a wide forehead and a massive chin to match, the ocean sunfish is a peculiar sight. Mola have been known to grow as large as 14 feet high, and 10 feet long, weighing more than 2 tonnes. Though massive, these fish give off the impression that they're only half developed – just beyond the two huge dorsal and ventral fins, the body almost abruptly ends. That's because the, 'clavus,' the curved, rudder-like body part at the back end of the fish, is formed from the folding of a back fin which doesn't grow after birth, giving it a truncated appearance. In lieu of teeth, ocean sunfish have a beak that they use to feast upon jellyfish, zooplankton, algae, and some small fish. These fish live far out in the open ocean, but bask near surface. When their massive dorsal fin breaches the water, sunfish are commonly mistaken for sharks. While the mola may be gentle, you may not want to come too close; these slow-moving fish are hosts to many different types of parasites, and will propel themselves as high as 10 feet above the water in order to shake them off. In 2014, divers off the coast of Malta had an up-close encounter with a massive mola. Diver Erik van der Goot, who posted the close-up footage on YouTube, said the 'once-in-a-lifetime experience' occurred near Wied il-Mielah off the island of Gozo. The diver said the group bumped into the bizarre-looking fish at a depth of around 15 metres and had a difficult time keeping up with it. The underwater footage shows just how massive and unusual the creature is, as it resembles a floating blob while cutting through the sea.
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