sharptail mola
Masturus lanceolatus (Liénard, 1840)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Masturus lanceolatus. Mounted specimen at the Museu Nacional de Historia Natural de Lisboa
Hectonichus · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The sharptail mola (Masturus lanceolatus) is a species of mola found circumglobally in tropical and temperate waters. It is similar in appearance to the ocean sunfish (Genus: Mola), but can be distinguished by the projection on its clavus (pseudo-tail). Other common names include sharpfin sunfish, point-tailed sunfish, and trunkfish.
Rarely encountered, very little is known of the biology or life history of the sharptail mola. It has recently become important to commercial fisheries operating off eastern Taiwan. This species is the only member of its genus.
Wikipedia contributors, Sharptail mola; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:17:00.691149+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Masturus lanceolatus (Liénard, 1840)
- Name authority
- (Liénard, 1840)
- Common name
- sharptail mola
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Tetraodontiformes
- Family
- Molidae
- Genus
- Masturus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderTetraodontiformes
- suborderTetraodontoidei
- familyMolidae Bonaparte, 1832
- genusMasturus Gill, 1884
- speciesMasturus lanceolatus (Liénard, 1840)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Mola lanceolatus (Liénard, 1840) (Liénard, 1840) | synonym |
| Masturus oxyuropterus (Bleeker, 1873) (Bleeker, 1873) | synonym |
| Orthagoriscus lanceolatus Liénard, 1840 Liénard, 1840 | synonym |
| Orthagoriscus oxyuropterus Bleeker, 1873 Bleeker, 1873 | synonym |
| Masturus lanceolata (Liénard, 1840) (Liénard, 1840) | synonym |
| Mola lanceolata (Liénard, 1840) (Liénard, 1840) | synonym |
| Pseudomola lassarati Cadenat, 1959 Cadenat, 1959 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=127404 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3YDT9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.