Talk:Ocean sunfish

message: I uploaded a PD NOAA photo of Mola mola. IMHO that's a better representation than the line drawing. —Tkinias 18:50, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Not sure about terrible english, that two names redirect to the same article does not mean they are interchangable, did you actually read the fish article and saw the difference between fish and fishes, as you changed the article now, most of the changes are wrong, some might be right, I'm not sure now, and to change a title in a reference is for sure wrong! Even if it is bad english it should stand as is. I do not have time to figure out if all your edits should be reverted or not now but will check and revert later unless you can state that what is stated in the fish article is wrong, which I assume is correct?!?!! --Stefan talk 06:52, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Quite sure that if the definition of fish/fishes in the fish page is correct, then this articel is/was correct also so I reveted back to the original. --Stefan talk 12:35, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

text: Any reference to support this? It would be appreciated to correct the text of article. --Furado (talk) 18:45, 9 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  General 

message: I'm not sure about the size thing. Is there a reference for the fact that this fish is the most massive of fish? Even the whole oarfish thing is dubious. Let's face it, the Guiness book of world records is not an authoritative source. AFAIK, the whale shark is the largest fish. Good records put it at over 12m. How much does a 12m whale shark weigh in comparison to the largest Ocean sunfish? Is there a reference for any of this?
One thing I do know for a fact is that Mola mola is the most derived of the fishes. — Dave 16:33, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: This is not correct.  Characters can be derived or ancestral, but species cannot -- all species are a combination of ancestral and derived characters.  I've changed the text accordingly.— Sonitus 19:11, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

text: One other thing on the size issue. There is a clear conversion error in the article and it would be necessary to know which are the original units in order to fix the error. 13'10" is 4.2m; 3.3m is 10'10". Which is it? — Dave 16:42, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

text: I checked fishbase.org and found that Mola mola grows to 333 cm and 2300 kg. This compares to the whale shark which grows to 2000 cm and 34000 kg and the oarfish which grows to 1100 cm and 272 kg. Hence, the ocean sunfish is far from the largest of the fishes. I will alter the article appropriately. — Dave 04:48, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

text: Well, 'twas I who made that edit to this article. All I can say is that I pulled that size info right off of fishbase.org. I have no idea where the size info in the Whale shark article came from. — Dave 03:55, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Size 

message: I question this sentence:
:Because of its very short and stiff body, it has no more than 16 vertebra, and the spinal cord is under 15 mm long (less than 0.5 in).
First, how can its spinal cord be only 15mm long? And second, 15mm is NOT less than a half inch. Also, we know that the length of a body doesn't necessarily correlate to more vertebrae, so is it actually true that the fish has 'only' 16 vertebra?--Anchoress 02:57, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, they're more like non-swimmers. The "ten feet out of the water" is pure BS.
The information I noted above has not yet been either verified or removed, so I'm adding an accuracy template. Anchoress 23:53, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry, I don't know what happened when I tried to add this the other day - apparently, all that got added was a "homeless" link. OceanSunfish.org notes that "sunfish can also breach, clearing the surface by up to 3 body lengths—presumably as another tactic to dislodge parasites." The site seems reputable enough - I'd say that this activity is confirmed (although, to be truthful, I can't see how they do it). PaladinWhite 21:51, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

text: The Monterey Bay Aquarium website also notes that they "occasionally jump from the water." PaladinWhite 22:47, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

text: I question the accuracy of this sentence, in Phisiology: "It is able to change color rapidly from spotty to even-colored." I've searched and been unable to find any confirmation of color-changing abilities in mola mola - anyone else care to contribute a source? PaladinWhite 23:27, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: After much discussion with a biologist working in Monterey Bay, California, information about this ability was added to OceanSunfish.org. I've re-added the section to the article, this time with a citation, so it looks like we're good to go. (Thanks, Tierney!) PaladinWhite 14:27, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

text: PaladinWhite 06:36, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I am deeply concerned that this April 2007 National Geographic article you cited for jumping 10 feet out of the water, appeared 10 months after the original unsourced claim was inserted into this article by an anonymous editor. Prior to April 2007 I could find no sources verifying this claim. This suggests that National Geographic got it from Wikipedia. I asked National Geographic for the source of this statement but never received a response. Notwithstanding the respectability of National Geographic, it wouldn't surprise me if an author trying to meet a deadline used Wikipedia as an information resource. =Axlq 17:59, 7 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Accuracy and accuracy tag

message: I have removed the accuracy tag from this article, as I don't see any ongoing disputes. Priorly disputed facts were:
*The size of the fish and its status as "the largest (bony) fish" - both have been corrected and referenced.
*The length of the spinal cord and number of vertebrae - the length has been referenced, and I have edited the vertebrae count to read simply, "contains less vertebrae than any other fish."
*Breaching behavior - the behavior has been referenced.
:PaladinWhite 06:36, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I am deeply concerned that this April 2007 National Geographic article you cited for jumping 10 feet out of the water, appeared 10 months after the original unsourced claim was inserted into this article by an anonymous editor. Prior to April 2007 I could find no sources verifying this claim. This suggests that National Geographic got it from Wikipedia. I asked National Geographic for the source of this statement but never received a response. Notwithstanding the respectability of National Geographic, it wouldn't surprise me if an author trying to meet a deadline used Wikipedia as an information resource. =Axlq 17:59, 7 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Removal of accuracy tag

message: I've recently acquired two new images of the ocean sunfish which demonstrate aspects mentioned in the article, namely, the resemblance of its fin to that of a shark and its basking behavior. As a result of adding these to the article, I removed an image, and it's now homeless. Let's find a (meaningful) place to use this beautiful (and large!) image. PaladinWhite 07:58, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: That's OK.  Notice how the article already has a link to the Common category page Mola mola.  That image is already on that page.  I also edited your image text so your two images appear in the cateogry page too.  But can you possibly upload an image with higher resolution?  See other similar images here. Fred Hsu 03:47, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah, thanks! Unfortunately, those are the best-resolution and best-framed examples I've encountered. I wish the basking picture were larger, but I thought the other was pretty good. PaladinWhite 06:22, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  This image needs a home! 

message: I just finished another group of big additions... I guess the best question would be, "What didn't I change?"
* Researched a bunch of new references so there aren't any questions about reliability of information
* Added images to liven up the page a bit
* Added quite a bit of information on range and reproduction
* Expanded the human interaction section, and added a subsection on sunfish in captivity
* Lots and lots of added links, tweaking awkward phrasing, etc etc etc
Anything I missed? I've really enjoyed working on this article =D PaladinWhite 15:41, 14 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Looks good to me. Nice work! Mgiganteus1 16:01, 14 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  14 June, 2007 changes 

message: I haven't read it, yet, but if anything is a FA, it should be this (and, of course, the god of the narine rhelm, the bluefin tuna).  Glad to see we have folks dedicated to editing an article on this awesome fish.  KP Botany 05:26, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, request page has been created.  Feel free to edit the text. Fred Hsu 17:06, 7 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  FAC 

message: If anyone finds a reference for the "banned in the EU" statement I'd be interested.  Back in the early 1980's we had sunfish served at a meal at college.  I think the point was that the chef wanted his photo in the local paper, standing next to the individual fish concerned. Philip Trueman 10:50, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Banned in the EU 

message: I think that :Image:Enormous_Sunfish.jpg does a nice job of illustrating the animal's scale, but I don't know where it'd fit in the article. Anybody have any ideas? -Hit bull, win steak(Moo!) 15:09, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Great picture! It'd be really nice to add that to the article. —Lowellian (reply) 03:35, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Although the image of the specimen at the Monterey Bay Aquarium already served this purpose, it was near the bottom of the article, and I agreed that it might be nice to demonstrate the fish's size a bit nearer the top, so I inserted the image. Cheers! PaladinWhite (talk) 13:43, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Image

message: I don't see any information in the article about how common this fish is. Is it very common, threatened, endangered, what? That would be useful information to add to the article. —Lowellian (reply) 03:36, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Unfortunately it is hard to find, when I looked months ago I couldn't find it. It's not on the redlist, http://www.iucnredlist.org/ so it can be assumed to be least concern, but of course without a citation it can't go in the article. -Ravedave (talk) 04:35, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I did some research and this is the criterias for red list, for VULNERABLE one of the criterias is less than 10,000 individuals and this link estimates 18,000 mola mola the northeast United States in offshore waters. There are many other criterias also like how much decline in population, but my guess is that there is not that much data calculate from. --Stefan talk 07:03, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Commonality

message: I have semi-protected this article as long as it remains on FA; it is in the midst of a revision-attack. As soon as it comes off of FA, I will delete the revisions being used in the attack. -Jéské  (v^_^v Karistaa Usko) 00:50, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Nakon, please do not remove the semi; this page has been targeted by vandalism from off-Wiki and it will continue until the article is off FA. -Jéské  (v^_^v Karistaa Usko) 03:37, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll endorse it for the crap it's taken from 4chan alone. It'll blow over by tomorrow. seicer | talk | contribs 03:41, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Endorse for now, but I don't think it needs to remain protected for the rest of the day. I would recommend at least trying unprotection in about four or five hours; even vandals need to sleep, or go to work or school or whatever. --Bongwarrior (talk) 03:50, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: As it sits, Bongwarrior, the article is going to need some revisions deleted.  I fear unprotection at 01:00 or 02:00 (I live in Washington State) would only attract sleepless channers. -Jéské  (v^_^v Karistaa Usko) 03:56, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: It may attract some, but hopefully a more manageable amount. These FAs have been getting hit a lot lately, but the socking usually drops off in the wee hours. I just don't like leaving them protected longer than necessary while they're on the main page. If you don't object, I'd like to try unprotection again at some point. If they start up again, I'll re-protect. Also, I wonder if it might be useful to have someone with oversight access keep an eye out for this sort of thing from now on. If the diffs are deleted early on, it would probably slow them down enough that protection wouldn't be necessary. --Bongwarrior (talk) 04:37, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I've tried asking oversight on similar things (involving a helluvalot more combative edits), and they won't act for some reason. However, I have no objection to any reduction in the wee hours, but I will restore if things go heinous again. -Jéské  (v^_^v Karistaa Usko) 06:30, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi'd 

message: How fast can these fish move? If they can breach by three body lengths, then they must be pretty fast (despite the obvious disability of not having a tail)! Also, what is the conservation status of this species? Are they endangered in any way? 82.18.44.72 (talk) 04:05, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: As for conservation status, see comments in section "Commonality" above. --Stefan talk 05:10, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Speed and conservation status? 

message: I can find no reference to sunfish or sun fish being banned the the EU.  The inline footnote is wrong and refers to "31991L0493
Council Directive 91/493/EEC of 22 July 1991 laying down the health conditions for the production and the placing on the market of fishery products", which is about keeping boats clean, and does not refer in the text or any attached appendix or schedule to sun fish (either spelling).  We should surely be able to rely on a featured article to be definitive.
80.189.129.208 (talk) 05:00, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The article links to the relevant document, "Article 5" appears to be the relevant part. It is a fish of the Molidae family, and according to the article it is disputed whether it is poisonous. --Snigbrook (talk) 09:27, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Banned in the EU again

message: I know nothing about sunfish, but judging by the pictures (article and linked), it seems to me a more accurate description would be a fish with a head and a tail, but almost no body, rather than a fish with no tail. Awien (talk) 16:51, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Having almost no body doesn't make sense to me because I'd imagine "the body" is where the bulk of its mass and vital organs are stored. That being said, I'm not an expert on this. Is anyone here a marine biologist?-Wafulz (talk) 16:55, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I does in fact have a body, and a head (no neck), and no "real" tail, it has a clavus, or "pseudo-tail". The article is correct. Pro bug catcher (talk • contribs). 20:50, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: It should be noted that the species Masturus lanceolatus (a member of the same family) has a more substantial tail then the Mola Mola. this means that it is safe to assume without knowing for sure that the Mola Mola has at least a vestigal caudal fin (a clauvus).Lemming42 (talk) 21:40, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Live and learn!  What looks like a tail and functions as a tail but isn't a tail?  A pseudo-tail! (That's not sarcastic, btw. One of the delights of Wikipedia is stumbling into the weird wonders of life, the universe and everything). So what's the difference between a tail and a pseudo-tail, I wonder? Awien (talk) 22:33, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  Well i suppose it means the although the Sunfish does have at least part of a tail it used to hve in it's history in the same way that a Rabbit's tail would have once have been much larger. The Sunfish does not use its tail to swim (as most fish do) but it does possess a trace of a tail from its evolutional past. Therefore, the title "pseudo tail" seems appropriate. Lemming42 (talk) 08:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  Exactly, much like we have a "pseudo-appendix" (vestigial) even though it doesn't work anymore - thus why we can't digest cellulose like other herbivore mammals. What appears to be a tail is, in fact, the dorsal and ventral fins. 87.196.234.59 (talk) 01:03, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  No tail? 

message: There are some instances where the units are inconsistent with the rest of the article, which I assume is metric/imperial. One under "Skin" (eticulated collagen, can be up to 3 inches (7.6 cm) thick on the ventral surface,) and another in the caption of the first picture under "Description". I don't know if they should be changed, so I'm just leaving a note. ALTON .ıl 21:12, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Consistent units 

message: "The by-catch rate is even higher for the Mediterranean swordfish industry, with 71% to 90% of the total catch being sunfish."
I don't think 90% of total can by definition be by-catch. Should probably be 71 to 90% of the total by-catch but I don't have any sources. Still, if no one objects I would like to change. Pukkie (talk) 23:12, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The Monterey Bay Aquarium reference for the preceding statement (about by-catch in California) has been updated. It now reads, "In the Mediterranean Sea, the Spanish gillnet fishery catches up to 93 percent molas." It does seem like an awfully high number, but that's the point - they're by-caught a lot. Seems like a pretty reliable source. PaladinWhite (talk) 22:25, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  90% of catch being by-catch? 

message: This sluggish fish that has trouble maneuvering well enough not to scrape the edges of its aquarium... which can't chase after fast fish to eat, and must be hand-fed... can LEAP OUT OF THE WATER AND SQUISH YOU? .. that'd be an awesome way to die, but I find it very unlikely.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 02:32, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Seriously. Jump? 

message: There is sunfish in Acquario di Genova too.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Whiskybar (talk • contribs) 08:52, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sunfish in captivity 

message: This section seems to be getting bloated. It was useful at one point to illustrate how various names for the sunfish recall its odd appearance, but now it's just becoming a list of every name for the sunfish in every possible language. I feel that this is the weakest section of the article, and I'm at a loss as to how to fix it. Pare it down? Are any names more important or informative than others? Or eliminate the first paragraph entirely, and replace it with a short statement like "Names for the sunfish in various languages refer to characteristics X, Y, and Z"?
This section could probably also use some style cleanup. Some names, when referenced, are italicized, some are enclosed in quotes, and some are neither. Consistency is lacking. PaladinWhite (talk) 22:51, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it would be difficult to non-arbitrarily trim this list to include only the most "important" names. We could, however, move them to a notes section, which would appear directly before the references, at the end of the article. mgiganteus1 (talk) 00:30, 25 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: That's not a bad idea. I think we'll still have to monitor included names with an eye for notability; for instance, I already removed one reference to a county that had voted for a county-wide name for the sunfish. PaladinWhite (talk) 01:17, 25 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Naming and taxonomy 

message: The article says, "Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, orcas and sharks will consume them."
I assume they have few predators because of their sheer size. Is this a correct assumption? How do juveniles avoid predation while growing? How do adults avoid being completely wiped out by large predators? My main curiosity arises from their strange body shape. They look very slow and lumbering. Can they swim fast when chased? Do they have an unusual defensive strategy?
I want to know more.
--Loqi (talk) 16:12, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  More detail on avoiding predation 

message: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molidae
I'd do it myself but I don't know how.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.89.192.122 (talk) 01:59, 5 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merge with Molidae 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I've added a tag to a source in #In captivity that you added with this edit in 2012. Curious to know if you have a copy of the brochure from 1957 and the newspaper articles from 1965 and 1941, or did you access them online somewhere? Rhinopias (talk) 00:48, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Verification of lines in "In captivity" 

message: on other pages on wikipedia i have seen the lower fin referred to as the pelvic fin, which i believe is correct. however the source used for the clavus refers to it as the anal fin. as such i have made no changes.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.240.93.120 (talk) 01:20, 12 July 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Pelvic fins are paired fins. The sunfish does not have them. The anal fin is a single centreline ventral fin, which the sunfish has. · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 04:33, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  pelvic or anal fin? 

message: The sunfish died. 161.230.197.57 (talk) 21:08, 23 September 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  The sunfish in the Lisbon Aquarium died in early September 2022. We visited on 9/23/22 and were disappointed to miss it. RIP 🐠 

message: This doesn't quite make sense: "the four fused teeth that form the characteristic beak and give the order its name (tetra=four, odous=tooth, and forma=shape)". But "dont" is tooth, and "odous" doesn't appear anywhere in the name. So how is this right? 71.231.178.215 (talk) 04:57, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Different forms of the same word. · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 04:35, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Naming and taxonomy meaning of "Tetraodontiformes"