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With the festive season drawing ever closer and rows of tempting treats lining the shelves at the shops, it’s only natural that we gain a bit of weight over the holidays. But no matter how many mince pies we tuck away, it’s unlikely we’ll ever be as heavy as the Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola), the world’s heaviest bony fish.
 
Famous for its bizarre shape, the Sunfish is almost as tall as it is long and is sometimes described as a “fish head with a tail”, but where it really breaks the records is in its sheer weight, with the largest recorded specimen topping the scales at almost 2,300kg.
 
Ocean sunfish may be found in the Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, yet despite its worldwide distribution, relatively little is known about it. However recent technological advances are revealing a bit more about this heavyweight ocean traveller, such as the fact that despite its gigantic size, it certainly gets about. Satellite tagging has helped to show that far from being a lethargic drifter, it is actually capable of migrating large distances and diving to great depths where it feeds on its favourite prey – jellyfish.
 
The sunfish is so named because they are often seen lying on their sides at the surface, sometimes flapping their dorsal fin. It’s as yet unclear why they do this – it may be that they are indeed basking and using the warmth of the sun to re-heat themselves after cold, deep dives and to aid digestion. They may also be using the oxygen-rich water at the surface to recharge their oxygen stores. But perhaps the most interesting theory is that they may be at the surface to attract seabirds or other fish to clean them of the irritating parasites that frequently infest their skin. Some scientists even suggest that their fin-waving is designed to attract the attention of the birds.
 
Finally the amazing sunfish is a record-breaker when it comes to reproduction as well. One specimen was found with an estimated 300 million eggs in its ovaries - more than ever found in any other vertebrate.