The fish is young. The moon fish is a giant with the smallest brain in the world

True, there is an assumption that this is what sick and dying fish do, which is why they are caught without any difficulty and which usually have an empty stomach. Moon fish is a very poor swimmer, unable to overcome strong currents. Sometimes from a ship you can observe how this harmless monster, swaying sluggishly and sticking the top of its dorsal fin out of the water, slowly swims without any visible goal. It feeds on zooplankton: various crustaceans, small squids, eel larvae (leptocephali) and many salps, ctenophores and jellyfish are often found in the stomach. It is possible that large individuals are capable of descending to significant depths. The sunfish is the most prolific fish: one female lays up to 300 million eggs. Pelagic caviar. It spawns in the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, but adult fish, carried by warm currents, often penetrate into moderately warm waters. In the North Atlantic they reach Newfoundland, Iceland, Great Britain, and the western part Baltic Sea and along the coast of Norway even to Murman. In our Far Eastern waters in summer they are occasionally found in the northern part Sea of ​​Japan and in the area of ​​the southern islands of the Great Kuril chain. Despite the fact that even large moon fish cannot cause any harm to humans, in some places off the coast South Africa fishermen experience superstitious fear when meeting this fish, considering it a harbinger of trouble, and hastily return to the shore. This is apparently explained by the fact that only before bad weather can the moonfish be seen near the shore, and fishermen associate its appearance with an approaching storm.

Origin of the species and description

This fish got its name due to its unusual appearance, similar in shape to the moon. It belongs to the order of pufferfish and has teeth and skin similar in structure, the absence outside gills This group includes, for example, poisonous fish fugu, but fugu is in the suborder of dogfishes, and the moon is in the suborder lunates.

The order of pufferfish as a whole is very unusual. These fish are characterized by unusual body shapes such as ball and square. Fish from this order easily adapt to different temperatures waters and live in almost all oceans.

Video: Moon fish

Another Latin name for this fish is mola mola, which means “millstone”, i.e. round device for kneading grain. The fish is also called “sunfish” because of its round shape. In Germany, this fish is called "fish head" because of its physiology.

The moon fish is the largest representative bony fish, since its weight can vary within a ton or even two.

Appearance and features

Typically, the length of this creature is 2.5 m in height, about 2 m in length (the fish grows to a maximum of 4 and 3 m).

The body of the moon fish is flattened laterally and it is vertically elongated, which makes its appearance even more unusual. Its body can be compared in shape to a disk - a wide plane. It is also distinguished by the complete absence of a caudal fin due to underdeveloped bones of the pelvic girdle. But the fish can boast of a “pseudo-tail”, which is formed by the dorsal and pelvic fins pushed together. Thanks to flexible cartilaginous rays, this tail allows the fish to maneuver in the water space.

Interesting fact: in 1966, a female sunfish was caught that weighed 2,300 kg. This fish was included in the Guinness Book of Records.

Interesting fact: the moon fish not only has a record weight among bony fish, but also the shortest spine relative to the size of the body: only 16-18 vertebrae. Accordingly, her brain is longer than her spinal cord.

This fish has no swim bladder and the lateral line, thanks to which fish detect danger out of sight. This fact is due to the fact that the fish has almost no natural enemies in its habitat.

The fish has no scales at all, and its thick skin is covered with protective mucus. However, in adult individuals, small bone growths are observed, which are considered to be evolutionary “remnants” of scales. It is not colorful - gray and brown colors; but in some habitats the fish are distinguished by bright patterns. In cases of danger, the moon fish changes its color to a darker one, which in the animal world gives it a terrifying appearance.

Where does the moon fish live?

Moon fish is predisposed to living in warm waters any oceans, such as:

• East Pacific, namely Canada, Peru and Chile;
• Indian Ocean. The moonfish is found in any part of this ocean, including the Red Sea;
• Waters of Russia, Japan, Australia;
• Sometimes fish swim into the Baltic Sea;
• In the east of the Atlantic (Scandinavia, South Africa);
• West Atlantic. The fish is rare here, appearing more often in southern Argentina or the Caribbean Sea.

The warmer the water, the higher the abundance of this species. For example, in the west Atlantic Ocean Along the coasts there are about 18,000 individuals measuring no more than one meter. The only place where the moon fish does not live is the Arctic Ocean.

Fish can descend to depths of up to 850 m. Most often they can be found at a depth of an average of 200 m, from where they occasionally rise to the surface. Often the fish that surface are weak and hungry and soon die. The water temperature should not fall below 11 degrees Celsius, as this can kill the fish.

What does the moon fish eat?

The diet of the moon fish depends on its habitat. The food must be soft, although there have been cases of such fish eating crustaceans with hard chitin.

Usually the moon fish feeds on:

• Plankton;
• Salpas;
• Ctenophores;
• Jellyfish;
• Acne and eel larvae;
• Large starfish;
• Sponges;
• Small squids. Sometimes a fight occurs between the fish and the squid, in which the fish, due to its low maneuverability, retreats;
• Small fish. They are more often found on the surface or near reefs;
• Algae. Not the most nutritious option, so fish eat them in case of emergency.

This variety of food found in the fish's stomachs suggests that moons feed at different levels of water, both at depth and at the surface. Most often, the diet of moonfish consists of jellyfish, but they become insufficient when rapid growth fish.

These fish do not have the necessary maneuverability and cannot pursue prey. Therefore, their mouth is adapted to suck in a large flow of water into which food falls.

Features of character and lifestyle

Fish lead a solitary lifestyle, flocking in schools only during the breeding season. However, there are fish that swim in pairs for a long period of time or even their entire lives. Fish flock together only when there is a concentration of cleaner fish or seagulls.

Unlike many fish, the moonfish's fins do not move from side to side. The principle of their operation is similar to oars: the fish scoops up water with them and slowly moves at depth. But the fry of these fish move their not yet formed fins like ordinary fish: left and right.

Compared to many fish, the moonfish swims very slowly. Maximum speed movement is about 3 km/hour, but the fish travels relatively long distances: up to 26 km per day. This is due to the fact that the vertical shape of the fish allows it to catch currents that accelerate its movement.

By nature, these fish are phlegmatic. They do not show aggression towards surrounding life forms and are absolutely harmless to humans. Despite its impressive size, the moon fish easily allows scuba divers to swim in close proximity to it. In the event of an attack, the moon fish is not able to fight back because it does not have the necessary dexterity, and its jaws are not adapted to bite through hard objects.

Social structure and reproduction

As already mentioned, the bulk of moon fish are loners. Due to the fact that this species has been poorly studied, it is difficult to say precisely about the biology of reproduction. But scientists have found that the sunfish is the most prolific vertebrate on the planet.

The mating season is approximately summer period time when fish have the opportunity to enter shallow water. This is a rare occasion when you can see a school of fish. Due to the fact that the fish are together in a small space, they often spawn in the same place. This is where the parental role of the moon fish ends.

Adult fish lay up to 300 million eggs, from which larvae emerge. The larvae have a pinhead size of 2.5 mm, and have a protective shell in the form of a translucent film. In the larval state, the moon fish has an external resemblance to its relative, the puffer fish. Only factor appearance is protection for the larvae, since otherwise they are not protected in any way from predators and the aggressive external environment.

The moonfish lays its eggs in the southern Atlantic waters, Indian and Pacific oceans. IN natural environment habitat, the moon fish lives up to 23 years, rarely reaching 27. In captivity, fish grow quickly and reach large sizes, however, their life expectancy is reduced to 10 years.

Natural enemies of moon fish

Due to the fact that the moon fish lives mainly in deep waters, it does not have many natural enemies.

These include:

• . Often this predator cannot bite through the thick skin of the moon fish. He catches it when it is on the surface and bites off its fins, making it impossible to move. If further attempts to bite the fish are not successful, the sea lion leaves the prey in this state, after which the fish drowns and is left to be eaten starfish.
• Orcas. Only fish-eating killer whales attack the moon fish, but cases are quite rare. Often cetaceans have no interest in this species and ignore it. The killer whales that attacked the moon fish were hungry or too old to fully hunt.
• . These predators readily attack the moon fish. The jaws of sharks allow them to easily bite through the thick skin of fish, and the remains go to underwater scavengers - small crustaceans and starfish. But sharks are not often found in the depths of the fish moon, so such encounters are rare.
• The most important enemy for the moon fish is man. Not so long ago, fishing for this species was very popular, although the fish itself carries very little nutritional value. They mined it as a trophy, since not so long ago the moon fish was a mysterious and unexplored inhabitant of the ocean.

Population and species status

It is difficult to estimate the approximate number of sunfish individuals in the world. It is prolific and has almost no natural enemies, so there is no need to worry about the population of this species. Ocean pollution is one of the few threats to fish. Often, along with food, they suck in plastic waste, which clogs Airways and cause suffocation.

Despite the fact that the moon fish is not an aggressive creature at all, sometimes it collides with boats or jumps into them, which sometimes leads to injuries to people and accidents. Collisions like this are very common.

There is still active fishing for this fish. Their meat is not tasty, nutritious or healthy, but is considered a delicacy in eastern countries. All parts of fish are eaten, including internal organs(some are even prescribed healing properties). Fish moon continues to be studied by scientists. Priority on this moment is the study of migration processes and reproductive characteristics.

The common moonfish (lat. Mola mola) is the owner of a unique figure and a real giant underwater world. She is one of the most major representatives family of moon fish (Molidae) from the order Tetraodontiformes.

Relationships with people

The largest specimen, 426 cm long and weighing 2235 kg, was caught in 1908 near the Australian city of Sydney. Body unusual shape allows you to quickly distinguish this species from others sea ​​creatures. Fishermen have always considered the catch of such fish to be an exceptional event. Some of them considered the appearance of the moon fish bad sign, foreshadowing a poor catch. Before the storm approaches, she is in large quantities swims into bays to escape bad weather.

In East Asian countries, this type of fish is caught in large numbers because its meat is considered medicinal. In fact, it is poisonous due to the content of tetrodotoxin, which can lead to death.

According to reviews from gourmets who have tasted moonfish meat, it has an unpleasant odor, and if it is cooked for a long time, it acquires a sticky consistency. Caviar, liver and milt are strictly prohibited from being eaten. Such a feast often ends in death.

Behavior

Sunfish are found in temperate and tropical waters of seas and oceans. Traveling along with warm currents, it swims to the coastal zone of Iceland or Norway. Even its appearance in the Mediterranean Sea will not surprise anyone.

Living in the open sea, the fish prefers to be close to the surface, but sometimes dives to a depth of up to 300 m. This giant is distinguished by its peaceful character and its leisurely way of life.

Until recently, the sunfish was classified as oceanic macroplankton, but targeted observations showed that this sloth can reach speeds of up to 3.3 km/h and cover a distance of about 26 km per day. Giant fish cannot overcome strong currents, so it often continues its journey captured by some warm current.

During movement, its body is motionless; movement is carried out only by its fins. Hovering on the surface, it exposes its dorsal fin above the water surface. Sometimes she sinks to the bottom and hangs head down. Despite its laziness, in a moment of danger, the moon fish can quickly fly over the water.

Furrowing the expanses of the seas and oceans, the fish, along with warm currents, approach the coast to feast on jellyfish. Its diet is enriched with eel larvae, small crustaceans and all kinds of planktonic organisms, as well as various types seaweed

In clear weather, the moonfish approaches the surface of the water and basks in the sun's rays. Many ichthyologists argue that this behavior is characteristic of sick or aged specimens.

Reproduction of the moon fish

Spawning begins in July and ends in October. The fish heads to coastal waters and spawns about 300 million eggs there. Together with plankton, they move freely on the surface.

In their development, the larvae go through three stages of metamorphosis and externally resemble pufferfish. Their body length is 1 mm. They have a large head and a clearly visible tail peduncle.

During the second stage, the larva grows plates of bone on its small body. At the same time, the caudal peduncle becomes smaller. A small part of the anal and dorsal fins are fused into the caudal fin.

The larva in the third stage of development already resembles an adult. For some time she was ranked among separate species Pisces moons. The size of the grown larvae reaches 1.5 cm. Their peculiar short body is flattened on the sides. The tail, along with the caudal peduncle, disappears forever. Small plates with a small cone-shaped tooth grow on the skin.

Under the influence of evolutionary processes, the moon fish lost its caudal stalk and tail. In place of the caudal fin, parts of the anal and caudal fin appeared, which fused together. She was left without pelvic fins and a pelvic girdle in her skeleton. Cartilaginous tissue remains as part of her skeleton, and the spinal ridge consists of 16-20 vertebrae.

Possessing low mobility, the sunfish can become easy prey for larger ones. sea ​​predators– killer whales, sea lions and sharks.

Description

The length of adult individuals reaches 4 m, weight no more than 2 tons. There are no jaws in the small mouth. Instead, there are bone plates that form a powerful beak.

The short powerful body is flattened laterally. The dorsal fin is very long. The pectoral fins are small.

The moon fish has greatly reduced longitudinal muscles, with the help of which other fish bend their bodies. To move the anal and dorsal fins, there are separate powerful bundles of muscles.

The color varies from gray to brown with a silvery tint with light spots. The anal fin is long and strongly pointed. Instead of a tail there is a fin formed by connecting the anal and dorsal fins. The rough skin is covered with bony tubercles and small spines like a shell.

Average lifespan of a moon fish in natural conditions about 20 years.

How many interesting things are hidden in the depths of the seas and oceans. And it also has its own Moon.

Moonfish- one of the most amazing sea creatures.

This fish entered into the Guinness Book of Records. Fish moon is YOURSELF:

A little about the name.

Appearance of the moon fish.

The skin is unusually thick, strong and elastic, covered with small bony tubercles. They say that even the skin of the ship cannot withstand a collision with a “crumb” fish and the paint peels off.

The tail is short, wide and truncated.

The dorsal and ventral fins of the sunfish are narrow and long, opposed to each other and moved far back.

The body gradually tapers towards the front and ends in an elongated round mouth full of teeth fused into a solid plate.

The color of the sunfish can be very different - from brown to gray and even white.

The 200-kilogram fish had a brain weight of only 4 grams, from which we can conclude that the moon fish is absolutely stupid. She hardly reacts to the approach of people and can often be caught with a hook. It is to hook, and not to catch, because under the scaleless skin there is a very thick and hard fibrous layer. Even the sharp end of a harpoon is not able to pierce him. The harpoon bounces off such armor and the moon fish continues its leisurely swimming.

Features of behavior.

Young individuals of this species swim like ordinary fish, and adults spend a significant part of their time lying on their sides, near the surface, lazily moving their fins, alternately exposing them from the water.

“Luna” is a very poor swimmer, unable to overcome strong currents. Therefore, the moon fish looks extremely apathetic... Sometimes sailors from a ship can watch how this harmless “monster” sways sluggishly on the surface of the water.

Moon Pisces prefers to be alone, but sometimes they are seen in pairs. Despite the fact that even large moon fish cannot cause any harm to a person; in some places off the coast of South Africa, fishermen experience superstitious fear when meeting this fish, considering it a harbinger of trouble, and hastily return to the shore. This is apparently explained by the fact that the “moon” approaches the shores only before bad weather, and fishermen associate its appearance with an approaching storm.

Nutritional features.

Sunfish feed on zooplankton.

Moonfish do not need to actively hunt to feed. Living, as a rule, in an environment rich in plankton, it is limited to sucking prey that swims within its reach. This is confirmed by studies of fish stomachs, in which crustaceans, small squids, leptocephali, ctenophores, fry, larvae and even jellyfish were found. The moonfish also does not disdain plant foods.

Where do they live?

The sunfish most often stays near the surface of the water, but has also been found at a depth of 300 meters. Scientists suggest that the sunfish can reach quite great depths.

These heavyweights live in all tropical and temperate zones. Sometimes they are carried to the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, to the shores of Scandinavia and Newfoundland. These beauties can also be found off the coast of Russia - in the northern part of the Sea of ​​Japan and in the area of ​​the southern islands of the Great Kuril Ridge.

The best place in Asian waters where divers can see this miracle fish is the island of Bali in Indonesia. From July to October, a deep-sea encounter with a marvelous ocean inhabitant is almost one hundred percent guaranteed.

The sunfish is not particularly shy, and with some skill you can swim almost close to it. But keep in mind that any careless movement will turn her into a swift flight, amazing for such a heavyweight.

Dangers to the sunfish.

They suffer from attacks by predators - sharks, killer whales, sea lions.

The person also represents serious danger for this sea ​​creature. In some East Asian countries, where sunfish is considered a delicacy, it is specially caught, but in other places thousands of individuals die simply from industrial fishing for other fish.

Used in Chinese medicine like a drug. Like the related fugu and abunawa, the sunfish's tissues contain toxins.

It has no commercial significance.

In captivity, sunfish adapt poorly and often die.

Luna fish is a species of the genus of moon fish of the same family. These are the heaviest of modern bony fishes. Reach in length three meters. The Guinness Book of Records provides data on an individual caught on September 18, 1908 near Sydney, whose length was 4.26 m and weight 2235 kg.

Common moonfish live in tropical and temperate waters of all oceans. They are found in the pelagic zone at depths of up to 844 m. They have a laterally compressed disc-shaped body. The dorsal and anal fins are moved back and form a tail plate. The skin is devoid of scales. The teeth are fused into a “beak”. Pelvic fins are absent. The color is bluish or grayish-brown. They feed mainly on jellyfish and other pelagic invertebrates.

It is the most prolific species among vertebrates, females ordinary moons fish produce up to 300,000,000 eggs at a time. The fry of this species resemble miniature pufferfish; they have large pectoral fins, there is a caudal fin and spines that disappear in adulthood. Adult moon fish are quite vulnerable. They are hunted sea ​​lions, killer whales and sharks. In some countries, such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan, their meat is considered a delicacy. In EU countries there is a ban on the sale of sunfish products.

In fact, the sunfish is completely harmless, because it feeds on jellyfish, ctenophores, small fish, crustaceans and other zooplankton, which, unfortunately, happen to be next to it. This fish does not know how to maneuver and swim quickly in pursuit of prey, but only sucks into its mouth-beak everything edible that happens to be nearby.

Because of its rounded shape, in many languages ​​of the world this unusual creature is called the moon fish, or the sun fish, due to its habit of basking in the sun while swimming on the surface. The translation of the German name means “floating head”, the Polish one means “lonely head”, and the Chinese call this fish “an overturned car”. In Latin, the most numerous genus of these fish is called mola, which means “millstone”. The fish earned this name not only by its body shape, but also by its grey, rough skin.

Moonfish belong to the order Pufferfish, which includes pufferfish and urchinfish, with which they have much in common. First of all, these are four fused front teeth, which form a characteristic non-closing beak, which gave the Latin name to the order - Tetraodontiformes (four-toothed). The moonfish family (Molidae) is united unusual appearance these millstone-like animals. It seems that at the dawn of evolution, someone bit off the back of the fish’s body just behind the dorsal and anal fins, and they survived and gave birth to equally strange offspring. Indeed, representatives of this family have fewer vertebrae than others bony fish, for example, in the species mola mola there are only 16 of them, the pelvic girdle is completely reduced, the caudal fin is absent, and instead there is a tuberous pseudotail.

Sunfish feed on zooplankton. This is confirmed by studies of fish stomachs, in which crustaceans, small squids, leptocephali, ctenophores and even jellyfish were found. Scientists suggest that the sunfish can reach quite great depths.

When moving, all moonfish use very long and narrow anal and dorsal fins, flapping them like a bird's wings, while small pectoral fins serve as stabilizers. To steer, fish spit a strong stream of water from their mouths or gills. Despite their love to bask in the sun, moon fish live at a respectable depth of several hundred and sometimes thousands of meters.

It is reported that sunfish can produce sounds by rubbing their pharyngeal teeth, which are long and claw-like.

It is believed that the lifespan of the sunfish can be about a hundred years, but much is still unknown about these amazing creatures because they do not get along well in aquariums.

Moonfish are found in tropical and temperate waters of all oceans. In the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, these fish are distributed from Canada (British Columbia) to the south of Peru and Chile, in the Indo-Pacific region - throughout Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea, and further from Russia and Japan to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. In the eastern Atlantic they are found from Scandinavia to South Africa, occasionally entering the Baltic, Northern and Mediterranean Sea. In the eastern Atlantic Ocean, sunfish can be found from the coast of Newfoundland to southern Argentina, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Genetic differences between individuals living in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are minimal.

During the spring and summer, the population of common moonfish in the northwest Atlantic is estimated at 18,000 individuals. IN coastal waters large concentrations of small fish up to 1 m in length are observed. In the Irish and Celtic Seas in 2003-2005, 68 individuals of this species were recorded, the estimated population density was 0.98 individuals per 100 km².

Usually these fish are caught at temperatures above 10 °C. Long stay at temperatures of 12 °C and below can cause them to become disorientated and sudden death. Common moonfish often found in the surface layers of the open ocean; There was an opinion that this fish swims on its side, but there is a version that this method of movement is typical for sick individuals. It is also possible that in this way the fish warm up their bodies before immersing themselves in cold water layers.

Their large size and thick skin make adult moon fish invulnerable to small predators, however, juveniles can become prey for tuna and korifena. Large fish are also attacked by sharks. In Monterey Bay, sea lions have been observed biting off the fins of moonfish and pushing them to the surface of the water. Probably, with the help of such actions, mammals manage to bite through the thick skin of fish. Sometimes, after throwing the moon fish several times, the sea lions abandoned their prey, and it helplessly sank to the bottom, where it was eaten by starfish.