Mola Distribution off North Carolina Coast 77 



keeping, and field effort was focused on seabirds. Furthermore, surveys 

 of ocean sunfish from boats are difficult, because surface conditions and 

 angle of view normally limit subsurface visibility. Variations in surface 

 conditions from one trip to another make comparisons of trip-by-trip 

 tallies meaningless. Nevertheless, cumulative records show patterns of 

 zones of occurrence, as well as seasonal movement and abundance. 



In the North Atlantic M. mola ranges north to the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, Newfoundland, southern Iceland, northern Norway, and the 

 Kola Peninsula (Martin and Drewry 1978). It is not common in the 

 tropics (Parin 1968). Information on seasonal movements is mostly con- 

 jectural, suggesting passive transport by ocean currents or^ foraging 

 while following passively drifting coelenterates and ctenophores (see 

 Martin and Drewry 1978). The species is generally regarded as pelagic 

 and solitary, but there are reports of M. mola moving in pairs or small 

 groups (Whitley 1931, Smith 1965), and there are several records of 

 summer occurrences, both of free-swimming and surf-washed individu- 

 als, in bays such as Sandy Hook, New Jersey (Breder 1932), Isle of 

 Wight Bay, Maryland (Schwartz 1964), and Monterey Bay, California 

 (Myers and Wales 1930). 



Records of Mola along the southeast coast of North America are 

 scarce, although farther north (e.g., New Jersey; Townsend 1918) it is 

 fairly well established that these headfish occur regularly. Most north- 

 ern records are of summer encounters. Brimley (1939) documented the 

 occurrence of M. mola in North Carolina, providing information on 

 one specimen and three other records; Anderson and Cupka (1973) 

 compiled eight records for South Carolina. The species is known from 

 waters off other southeastern states, including the Gulf of Mexico 

 (Dawson 1965), but generally it appears on state faunal lists with no 

 details of occurrence (e.g., Briggs 1958). 



Both Mola mola and Mola (formerly Masturus) lanceolata Lie- 

 nard, the sharp-tailed mola, are found off the North Carolina coast 

 (Brimley 1939, Funderburg and Eaton 1952). Although Dawson (1965) 

 commented on the difficulty of identifying ocean sunfish at sea, several 

 distinctive field characters separate these two fish. I was able to identify 

 M. mola by its dull, nearly uniform color, the rounded dorsal or ventral 

 fins, and the short blunt shape of its tail (which could be confirmed in 

 70% of sightings). Because nearly all fish seen were considerably greater 

 than 1 meter total length, I assumed most were adults. 



Most sunfish were sighted while they were swimming about 0.5 to 

 1.5 m below the surface. In their "sunning" behavior the fish's sides were 

 always below the surface. Usually the dorsal fin, and occasionally the 

 ventral fin, projected above the surface. Projecting fins were normally 

 held at angles of 45 to 70 degrees and were constantly undulating. This 

 allowed sunfish to be sighted from distances of more than 100 m under 

 calm conditions. Observed fish whose fins did not project above the 

 surface could not be detected for more than 20 to 25 meters from the 

 boat. Normally the fish did not dive at the approach of the boat, but 



