{"id":7465,"date":"2010-10-06T21:07:25","date_gmt":"2010-10-07T02:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=7465"},"modified":"2010-11-14T13:40:36","modified_gmt":"2010-11-14T18:40:36","slug":"ocean-sunfish-pair-foraging-in-wellfleet-harbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=7465","title":{"rendered":"Ocean Sunfish Pair Foraging in Wellfleet Harbor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"014-ocean-sunfish-from-top-back<\/a><\/p>\n

Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What a strange fish!\u00c2\u00a0 This giant ocean sunfish, seven feet from tip of dorsal fin (bottom right) to tip of\u00c2\u00a0ventral fin (top left), sports the signature\u00c2\u00a0abbreviated tailfin, called a caudal fin or clavus (rudder).\u00c2\u00a0 Her head is at the top right of the photograph with her tiny\u00c2\u00a0rounded pectoral fin immediately behind the eye.\u00c2\u00a0 While one can come across an ocean sunfish at sea basking on the surface in a flat position similar to the stranded Mola mola<\/em> above, normally one finds an ocean sunfish swimming with dorsal fin cutting through the water, looking for all the world like a SHARK!<\/p>\n

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SHARK!! (NOT … Ocean Sunfish)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Turtle Journal\u00c2\u00a0reached Wellfleet Harbor in mid afternoon as the late morning high tide receded.\u00c2\u00a0 Thick low clouds dumped torrents of rain on the pier,\u00c2\u00a0and schools of menhaden swam slowly along the floating docks largely camouflaged in the murky, plankton-thick water.\u00c2\u00a0 We visited the Wellfleet Pier today\u00c2\u00a0to check for signs of the\u00c2\u00a0large ocean sunfish we had discovered one week ago on September 29th.\u00c2\u00a0 (See Giant Ocean Sunfish in Wellfleet’s Chipman’s Cove<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0)\u00c2\u00a0 As Sue Wieber Nourse walked near the harbor master’s shack, she spotted a dorsal fin circling the harbor among schools of menhaden.<\/p>\n

\"Mola<\/a><\/p>\n

Ocean Sunfish Pair in Wellfleet Harbor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This giant ocean sunfish was quickly joined by a smaller Mola mola<\/em> as the pair foraged in tandem among the menhaden,\u00c2\u00a0while dodging diving gulls and busy shellfishermen boating out to their aquaculture grants.\u00c2\u00a0 The sunfish crisscrossed between piers and along the docks, then disappeared for several minutes, only to reappear and resume foraging behavior with dorsal fin occasionally slapping from side to side.<\/p>\n

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Ocean Sunfish Pair Forage among Menhaden Schools<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The pair continued to forage and gradually swam\u00c2\u00a0into the deeper channel\u00c2\u00a0leading out to Wellfleet Bay as the receding tide\u00c2\u00a0lowered water levels near the pier.\u00c2\u00a0 Soon their dorsal fins blended into thick low misty clouds as they swam\u00c2\u00a0beyond the harbor jetty.\u00c2\u00a0 We will continue to observe these gentle giants during the coming weeks because many ocean sunfish strand during astronomic tides each fall along the Cape Cod bayside shoreline.\u00c2\u00a0 If you see an ocean sunfish in distress or merely circling close to shore within the next several weeks, don’t hesitate to call the Turtle Journal hotline at 508-274-5108.<\/p>\n