Records of ocean sunfish Mola mola along the Norwegian coast spanning two centuries, 1801–2015

Abstract

Records of the ocean sunfish Mola mola along the Norwegian coast were compiled from all possible sources: literature, media, databases and museums. A total of 216 records were found between 1801 and 2015. They were distributed along the whole coast, except for the most north-eastern part. Nearly all years with more than five records were after 2000, with 1985 as the only exception and with a maximum of 23 records in 2014. Most, 92·4%, were from July to December. Records from before 1979 were more incidental and random and no sunfish were recorded in 54 separate years between 1879 and 2015. The northernmost record was from 70° 44' N in December 1881. No relationship between year and latitude was found. Forty-four per cent of the records were of sunfish caught in fishing gear, 27% were found stranded and 30% were observed alive at sea. A trend of a decrease in numbers of observations of living individuals and an increase in numbers of strandings as dead individuals as autumn progressed was found. Geographical differences in the three categories of observation were also found. Among the specimens whose size was recorded, most were small,<30 kg and 70 cm in total length. Only 10 were heavier than 100 kg, all these were from before 1960. Annual numbers correlated weakly with sea temperatures. This was supported by a weak negative correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, because the majority of years since 2000 had a negative NAO.

Giant jelly eaters on the line: Species distribution and bycatch of three dominant sunfishes in the Southwest Pacific

“…Likewise, sunfish (reported as M. mola) occurring along the coast of Norway likely represents a northern range extension through "intentional, incidental or accidental" northwards movements, associated with the warm waters of the North Atlantic Drift and Norwegian Coastal Current (Frafjord et al 2017).…”

A review of giants: Examining the species identities of the world's heaviest extant bony fishes (ocean sunfishes, family Molidae)

“…Therefore, including very large M. alexandrini in length–weight relationships for other molids will likely cloud length–weight relationships and scaling assessments. Several length–weight relationships have been proposed for M. mola (Frafjord et al ., 2017; Lee et al ., 2013; McClain et al ., 2015; Nakatsubo et al ., 2007a; Watanabe & Sato, 2008) and Mola spp. (Phillips et al ., 2018).…”

Evidence of a range expansion in sunfish from 47 years of coastal sightings

“…These observations are in agreement with observations from further north in the North East Atlantic (NEA) where increases in sunfish sightings have been documented. For example, in Icelandic waters, Palsson and Astthorsson (2017) recorded an increase in the occurrence of sunfish since the 2000s and Frafjord et al (2017) reported that annual records of more than five sunfish in Norwegian waters all occurred after 2000. Such observations were reported as evidence of a range expansion for ocean sunfish.…”

“…In the absence of any long-term fisheries capture (or bycatch data) in the NEA for ocean sunfish, reconstruction of their past trends in abundance must rely on sightings records, which are collected opportunistically (Palsson and Astthorsson 2017;Frafjord et al 2017) or as part of monitoring surveys for other species and through citizen science initiatives. However, such data are more prone to sources of imprecision and bias than data collected through rigorous scientific surveys (Bird et al 2014).…”

“…For example, in Icelandic waters, Palsson and Astthorsson ( 2017 ) recorded an increase in the occurrence of sunfish since the 2000s and Frafjord et al. ( 2017 ) reported that annual records of more than five sunfish in Norwegian waters all occurred after 2000. Such observations were reported as evidence of a range expansion for ocean sunfish.…”