Mola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The giant sunfish or bumphead sunfish (Mola alexandrini), also known as the Ramsay's sunfish, southern sunfish, southern ocean sunfish, short sunfish or bump-head sunfish, is a fish belonging to the family Molidae. It is closely related to the more widely known Mola mola, and is found in the Southern Hemisphere. With a specimen found in the Azores in 2021 weighing 2744 kg (6049 lb), being by large the heaviest extant ray-finned fish in the world . It can be found basking on its side occasionally near the surface, which is thought to be used to re-heat itself after diving in cold water for prey, recharge its oxygen stores, and attract gulls to free itself of parasites.
Wikipedia contributors, Giant sunfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:13:46.287855+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Mola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839)
- Name authority
- (Ranzani, 1839)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Tetraodontiformes
- Family
- Molidae
- Genus
- Mola
- 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
- genusMola Koelreuter, 1766
- speciesMola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Mola. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Common sunfishMola mola (Linnaeus, 1758) | MolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hoodwinker ocean sunfishMola tecta Nyegaard, Sawai, Gemmell, Gillum, Loneragan, Yamanoue & Stewart, 2017 | MolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Orthragoriscus eurypterus Philippi, 1892 Philippi, 1892 | synonym |
| Orthragoriscus alexandrini Ranzani, 1839 Ranzani, 1839 | synonym |
| Orthragoriscus ramsayi Giglioli, 1883 Giglioli, 1883 | synonym |
| Mola ramsayi (Giglioli, 1883) (Giglioli, 1883) | synonym |
| Orthagoriscus eurypterus Philippi, 1892 Philippi, 1892 | 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=1329867 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:D569F. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.