Slender Sunfish (Ranzania Laevis)

Latin name: Ranzania laevis
Common name: Slender sunfish
Other names: Dwarf sunfish, slender mola
In other languages: E: Ranzania, F: Ranzania, D: Schlanker Sonnenfisch, Stutzmondfisch
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Family: Molidae
Genus: Ranzania

Distribution: More common in the eastern Mediterranean than in the western Mediterranean.

Habitat: This epipelagic species, like the only other member of the molidae family (mola mola), lives in warm and temperate seas of the world from the surface down to 50 metres, but is rarely seen close to the shoreline.

Behaviour: Solitary in the adult stage. They can move very fast with just the use of their tail fins.

Diet: Feeds on planktonic crustaceans and jellyfish as does the Ocean sunfish (mola mola).

Size: Common: 40 - 60cm, maximum: 100cm.

Did you know? For a fish that has been known since classical times, there is still relatively little known about it or its life cycle.