ANIMAL SPECIES:Sharptail Sunfish, Masturus lanceolatus (Lienard, 1840)
The Sharptail Sunfish has a deep compressed body with the dorsal and anal fins positioned posteriorly. The teeth in both jaws are fused into beak-like plates. Adults are uniform brown or greyish. Larvae are blue above and white below. The species resembles the Ocean Sunfish and the Southern Ocean Sunfish, but can be distinguished by the median projection from the clavus. The projection is relatively longer in juveniles. The clavus margin is not scalloped.
Alternative Name/s
The species has also called the Point-tailed Sunfish and Trunkfish.Identification
The Sharptail Sunfish has a deep compressed body with the dorsal and anal fins positioned posteriorly. The teeth in both jaws are fused into beak-like plates.
Adults are uniform brown or greyish. Larvae are blue above and white below.
Size range
The Sharptail Sunfish grows to 3 m in length.Similar Species
The species resembles the Ocean Sunfish, Mola mola,and the Southern Ocean Sunfish, but can be distinguished by the median projection from the clavus. The projection is relatively longer in juveniles. The clavus margin is not scalloped.Distribution
There is still much to learn about the distribution of the Sharptail Sunfish. It probably occurs worldwide in temperate and tropical marine waters.
In Australia it has been recorded in the literature from eastern South Australia to south-western Western Australia. The fish in the lower images was caught in the Coral Sea off north-eastern Queensland.
Classification
- Species:
- lanceolatus
- Genus:
- Masturus
- Family:
- Molidae
- Order:
- Tetraodontiformes
- Class:
- Actinopterygii
- Subphylum:
- Vertebrata
- Phylum:
- Chordata
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
References
- Glover, C.J.M. in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Hutchins, J.B., 2001 Molidae. Molas (ocean sunfishes). in Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 6. Bony Fishes part 4 (Labridae to Latimeriidae), estuarine crocodiles, sea turtles, sea snakes and marine mammals. FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-v, 3381-4218.
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A Sharptail Sunfish from Honjo, Japan View full size
Hideki Sugiyama
© Hideki Sugiyama
A Juvenile Sharptail Sunfish from the Coral Sea View full size
Amanda Hay
© Australian Museum
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