Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Tetraodontiformes (Puffers and filefishes) > Molidae (Molas or Ocean Sunfishes)
Etymology: Ranzania: Because of Camillo Ranzani, 1775-1841, catholic priest and naturalist (Ref. 45335).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; depth range 1 - 140 m (Ref. 58302). Subtropical; 71°N - 55°S, 180°W - 180°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Cosmopolitan. Western Atlantic: Florida (USA), Martinique, Venezuela (Ref. 51183), and Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Madeira to Scandinavia (Ref. 4711); Dakar, Senegambie, and Sierra Leone (Ref. 6952); South Africa. Eastern Pacific: central California, USA to Chile; rare north of Mexico (Ref. 2850). Indian Ocean: Madagascar (Ref. 33390), Mauritius (Ref. 58078), Reunion (Ref. 53568), Iran (Ref. 86583), Australia (49596). West Pacific: Japan (Ref. 559), China (Ref. 57879), Taiwan (Ref. 12711), New Zealand (Ref. 5755).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26340)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 18; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 20. Caudal fin present in postlarvae but resorbed during metamorphosis and replaced by a clavus (Ref. 4424). Body elongated, Mouth slit vertical (Ref. 35388).

Oceanic (Ref. 2850), epipelagic (Ref. 2340), and generally solitary (Ref. 9317). Feeds on planktonic crustaceans (Ref. 4424).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Tortonese, E., 1990. Molidae. p. 1077-1079. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2. (Ref. 6952)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 07 June 2011

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Internet sources

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 14.7 - 27.9, mean 23.9 °C (based on 1566 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 1.0312 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02455 (0.01018 - 0.05918), b=3.02 (2.81 - 3.23), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.7 ±0.47 se; based on food items.

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): High vulnerability (60 of 100).

Ranzania laevis (Pennant, 1776)