Received: 13 December 2023

Revised: 1 March 2024

Accepted: 3 March 2024

DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15730

FISH

BRIEF COMMUNICATION

New northerly limit for the sharptail mola in the northeast
Atlantic: first sighting of Masturus lanceolatus in the northeast
Irish Sea
Declan T. G. Quigley 1|

1Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, Athlone,Ireland
2Natasha D. Phillips 2|

Tierney M. Thys 3

Abstract

Independent Scholar, Cornwall, UK

The ocean sunfishes are currently represented by five species within three genera:

California Academy of Sciences, SanFrancisco, California, USA

Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758), Mola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839), Mola tecta (Nyegaard,3Sawai, Gemmell, Gillum, Loneragan, Yamanoue & Stewart, 2017) (Sawai et al., 2018),
Correspondence
Natasha D. Phillips, Independent Scholar,Cornwall, UK.
Email: nphillips01@qub.ac.uk

Masturus lanceolatus (Lienard, 1840), and Ranzania laevis (Pennant, 1776). Growing
conservation concerns have led to an ongoing re-examination of their classification
status on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red Lists, a process
requiring the latest data to best support their conservation management on a globalscale. Here we report the first sighting of Masturus lanceolatus in the northeast Irish
Sea, representing a new northerly range limit for this species in the northeast Atlantic. The species is more commonly reported in tropical seas, and in the Western
Atlantic they occur from North Carolina in the United States to southeast Brazil. Thissighting increases the most northerly range limit by 2610 km, providing additional
insight into the ecology and potentially changing distribution of this generally considered tropical megafaunal species.
KEYWORDS

Molidae, range expansion, stranding, sunfish

The ocean sunfishes (family Molidae) contain some of the world's larg-

Second, an expanded distribution of megafaunal species may pro-

est bony fish species, including Mola alexandrini, which reaches 3.3 m

vide new predatory interactions and opportunities with existingin length and 2.7 tonnes in weight (Gomez-Pereira et al., 2022).

incumbent megafaunal assemblages. This may have a knock-on effectDespite their large size, establishing the global ranges of Molidae spe-for other species. For example, Visser and Fletcher (2023) reported

cies has proved challenging. The conservation status of all ocean sun-that, in the Eastern Pacific, Masturus lanceolatus is a newly recorded

fishes is currently undergoing a 10-year review by the International

prey item for the circumglobal megafaunal predator the killer whale

Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The current IUCN Red(Orca orcinus), which also occurs in the northeast Atlantic. Third, new

List status (accessed January 2024) of each molid species is summa-

northerly or southerly sightings can also help pinpoint if opportunistic

rized in Table 1. Up-to-date information on the range and distribution

sightings may be in response to climatic change. For example, Lya-of each species is essential for informing the latest global

shevska et al. (2022) recently reported that the increasing presence ofassessments.

ocean sunfish (Mola spp.) in the northeast Atlantic was correlated with

Recording new latitudinal records for elusive species serves multi-a 200-km northward shift in the 13 C isotherm calculated fromple important purposes. First, many conservation and managementmonthly sea surface temperature (SST) data between 48.5 N todecisions are based on the IUCN Red List assessments, which depend

52.5 N and 12.5 W to 4.5 W.

on accurate, up-to-date information about each species, including
their distributional patterns.
J Fish Biol. 2024;1–4.

In this paper we provide a confirmed sighting of a freshly
stranded sharptail mola (Masturus lanceolatus) from Powillimountwileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jfb© 2024 Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

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2TABLE 1

QUIGLEY ET AL.

IUCN conservation status of Molidae.

Molidae species

Date of last assessment

Current IUCN listing

Population trend

Needing update?

Mola mola

2011

VulnerableDecreasing

Yes

Masturus lanceolatus

2011

Least Concern

Unknown

Yes

Ranzania laevis

2011

Least Concern

Unknown

Yes

Mola alexandrini

NA

Not Assessed

NA

NA

Mola tectaNA

Not Assessed

NANA

Abbreviation: IUCN, International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

F I G U R E 1 Distribution of Masturus lanceolatus modified with permission from Thys et al. (2021). Numbered circles correspond to the numberof genetically confirmed samples. The red question mark designates the current record location and the yet-be-determined status of being aformal range extension pending additional sightings. Inset photograph of specimen indicating the location of stranding (photo credit Niamh
Gilmore).

beach (54.8895 N, 3.5698 W) near Kirkbean, Solway Firth, Dumfries2020) to north of the Arctic Circle in Norway at 70 440 N during

and Galloway, southwest Scotland in the northeast Irish Sea. The

December 1881 (Frafjord et al., 2017).

specimen was identified to species level by several highly diagnosticMasturus alexandrini has also been reported from northwestfeatures, including an elongated projection from the midpoint of its

Europe, with a record from Norway in 2017 (Frafjord et al., 2020).

clavus and lack of visible clavus ossicles, lack of head or chin bumps,

Previously it was believed to be confined to the northeast Atlantic as

and a slight ridge in the dorsal region. The stranded Masturus, measur-

far north as northwest Africa. However, it is now considered a globally

ing c.50 cm total length (TL), was recorded on November 5, 2021 anddistributed generalist. Further sightings and new northerly range

represents the most northerly record for this species in the northeast

records are expected (Sawai et al., 2018; Wirtz & Biscoito, 2019).

Atlantic.

Mola tecta, recently described in 2017, was initially believed to be

Records of other Molidae species in Irish and other northwest

a temperate southern hemisphere species (IUCN expert panel, 2023).

European waters are dominated by the common ocean sunfish,However, subsequent records from commercial fisheries, public sight-M. mola (Breen et al., 2017; Carl & Nyegaard, 2019; Dell'Amico, 2020;

ings (Graff, 2023), and strandings from New Zealand, Australia, Chile,

Houghton et al., 2006; Lyashevska et al., 2022; Moritz et al., 2017;

Peru, California, and Alaska have expanded its previously known dis-Palsson & Astthorsson, 2016; Quigley, 2013; Sims, Queiroz, Doyle,tribution (Nyegaard & Sawai, 2018). As marine temperatures increase,et al., 2009; Sims, Queiroz, Humphries, et al., 2009; Sousa

the value of anecdotal sighting data for rare megafaunal species inet al., 2016). This species has the largest circumglobal range of any

high latitudinal increases as well. There is an unconfirmed but credit-molid, stretching from the South Island of New Zealand (Caldera et al.

able late 19th century (December 1889) report of a large matureFISH

QUIGLEY ET AL.

female specimen measuring 223 cm TL stranded on the Dutch coast(Ameland Island) (Nyegaard et al., 2017; Van Lidth de Jeude, 1890).
Ranzania laevis is less well known in northwest European waters
and is generally considered to be a tropical and subtropical species(IUCN expert panel, 2023). Although there are only six records fromIrish waters and 15 from UK waters, the species has been reported
from as far north as Scandinavia (Quigley, 2013). Several specimens
have also been recorded between the Bay of Biscay and the CelticSea (Quero et al., 2008), which suggests that this species may occur
more regularly in Irish waters than previously thought.
Masturus lanceolatus is more commonly reported from tropicalseas and only occasionally from temperate waters (IUCN expert
panel, 2023). Records from the Western Atlantic range from North
Carolina (United States) to southeast Brazil, with some isolated
records occurring around the tropical northeast Atlantic (e.g., Azores,Canary Islands, and Senegal) (Thys et al., 2021). The current record
from the northeast Irish Sea represents a 2610 km northward expansion in its latitudinal range within the northeast Atlantic (Figure 1) andprovides new insights into the ecology and distribution of this rarelyobserved species.
As conservation concerns grow for ocean sunfishes (following
locally reported population declines, unregulated target fisheries, andwidespread bycatch), understanding of the ecology of these largebodied, widely distributed mega faunal species remains vital for theircontinued health and wellbeing (Thys et al., 2021). This brief communication highlights the important contribution of citizen science mega
faunal sightings supported by proper identification of ocean sunfishspecies to further ongoing insights into the potential effects of changing oceanic conditions on fish distributions.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
All authors contributed fully to all elements of this manuscript.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to Niamh Gilmore, Kayla Mcinally, and Fergal Downes(Scottish Rural University College, SRUC, Barony Agricultural College,Dumfries, Scotland) for bringing the current specimen to ourattention.
ORCID
Natasha D. Phillips

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1413-577X

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How to cite this article: Quigley, D. T. G., Phillips, N. D., &Thys, T. M. (2024). New northerly limit for the sharptail molain the northeast Atlantic: first sighting of Masturus lanceolatus
in the northeast Irish Sea. Journal of Fish Biology, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15730