The Ocean Sunfishes

Dr. Tierney M. Thys is a Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California USA. She has been captivated by the molids since the 1990s and was a member of the first team to successfully satellite tag Mola mola in the wild. She has research sites in South America and California and runs www.oceansunfish.org and the Adopt a Sunfish Project. Dr. Thys received her B.A. from Brown University and Ph.D. from Duke University. Dr. Graeme C. Hays is the Alfred Deakin Professor of Marine Science at Deakin University, Australia. He has a long-standing interest in the movements and ecology of marine megafauna, pioneering the use of satellite tracking in the early 1990s, a technique that is now very widely used across studies with marine mammals, birds, reptiles and fish. Since encountering ocean sunfish during fieldwork on the west coast of Ireland, he has been fascinated by these extraordinary fish. Dr. Jonathan D.R. Houghton is a Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology (i.e. Associate Professor) based at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland. His lab group focuses on the movement and foraging ecology of pelagic species from leatherback sea turtles, basking sharks and ocean sunfish through to deep oceanic jellyfish. These efforts center on marine conservation across Europe, the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Galápagos Islands.

Evolution and Fossil Record of the Ocean Sunfishes. Phylogeny, Taxonomy and Size Records of Ocean Sunfishes. Genetic Insights Regarding the Taxonomy, Phylogeography and Evolution of Ocean Sunfishes (Molidae Tetraodontiformes). Overview of the Anatomy of Ocean Sunfishes (Molidae Tetraodontiformes). Locomotory Systems and Biomechanics of Ocean Sunfish. Reproductive Biology of the Ocean Sunfishes. Ocean Sunfish Larvae: Detections, Identification and Predation. Movements and Foraging Behavior of Ocean Sunfish. The Diet and Trophic Role of Ocean Sunfishes. Parasites of the Ocean Sunfishes. Biotoxins, Trace Elements, and Microplastics in the Ocean Sunfishes (Molidae). Fisheries Interactions, Distribution Modeling and Conservation Issues of the Ocean Sunfishes. Sunfish on Display: Husbandry of the Ocean Sunfish Mola mola. Ocean Sunfishes and Society. Unresolved Questions About the Ocean Sunfishes, Molidae—A Family Comprising Some of the World’s Largest Teleosts.