Talk:Ocean sunfish
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[edit] General
I uploaded a PD NOAA photo of Mola mola. IMHO that's a better representation than the line drawing. —Tkinias 18:50, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Shouldn't someone refer to the fact that the Sunfish is the most prolific of all fish? --Lone Isle 07:45, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
Okay, "bizarre?" Isn't that an odd adjective to be in the first sentence of an encyclopedia article? Especially since it's a rather common fish. Is bizarre more of an emotional word than belongs here? --asarkees
[edit] Size
I'm not sure about the size thing. Is there a reference for the fact that this fish is the most massive of fish? Even the whole oarfish thing is dubious. Let's face it, the Guiness book of world records is not an authoritative source. AFAIK, the whale shark is the largest fish. Good records put it at over 12m. How much does a 12m whale shark weigh in comparison to the largest Ocean sunfish? Is there a reference for any of this?
One thing I do know for a fact is that Mola mola is the most derived of the fishes. — Dave 16:33, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
- This is not correct. Characters can be derived or ancestral, but species cannot -- all species are a combination of ancestral and derived characters. I've changed the text accordingly.— Sonitus 19:11, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
- One other thing on the size issue. There is a clear conversion error in the article and it would be necessary to know which are the original units in order to fix the error. 13'10" is 4.2m; 3.3m is 10'10". Which is it? — Dave 16:42, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
- I checked fishbase.org and found that Mola mola grows to 333 cm and 2300 kg. This compares to the whale shark which grows to 2000 cm and 34000 kg and the oarfish which grows to 1100 cm and 272 kg. Hence, the ocean sunfish is far from the largest of the fishes. I will alter the article appropriately. — Dave 04:48, 20 November 2005 (UTC)
Whale shark
I don't know who is right, but the whale shark dimensions given here are much larger than what is stated in the whale shark entry, which says, "The greatest size accurately recorded was 12 meters (39 ft) long, with unofficial accounts of 18 meters (59 ft)." It would be good if these articles were consistent and the figures given in both were definitive.
Metamagician3000 11:43, 23 December 2005
- Well, 'twas I who made that edit to this article. All I can say is that I pulled that size info right off of fishbase.org. I have no idea where the size info in the Whale shark article came from. — Dave 03:55, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
its the largest BONY fish sharks are cartilaginous but yeah the whale shark is the biggest fish --Moose15
[edit] Accuracy and accuracy tag
I question this sentence:
- Because of its very short and stiff body, it has no more than 16 vertebra, and the spinal cord is under 15 mm long (less than 0.5 in).
First, how can its spinal cord be only 15mm long? And second, 15mm is NOT less than a half inch. Also, we know that the length of a body doesn't necessarily correlate to more vertebrae, so is it actually true that the fish has 'only' 16 vertebra?--Anchoress 02:57, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
Another questionable sentence: "They are reported to jump up to ten feet out of the water." Really? I have seen these fish. They are slow and sluggish. They have poor hydrodynamics. Elsewhere the article even says they are weak swimmers, as does the fishbase reference cited. How are they supposed to jump out of the water, let alone ten feet?! I have added an accuracy tag, as well as tagged sentences that cry out for citations. =Axlq 04:17, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
- Actually, they're more like non-swimmers. The "ten feet out of the water" is pure BS.
The information I noted above has not yet been either verified or removed, so I'm adding an accuracy template. Anchoress 23:53, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
As of February 22, 2007, the article says that their spine is less then 25mm, (up from 15mm) so it is an improvement. However, that still doesn't seam long enough. Fusion7 18:42, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
Montery Bay Aquarium claims: "Sunfish have the shortest spinal cord of any fish—a seven-foot sunfish has a spinal cord less than one inch (2.5 cm) long." [1] Ahibara 22:03, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
the ocean sunfish could be the most massive fish; whale sharks don't count since they're cartilaginous fish, whereas this contest is restricted to fish with bone skeletons. as far as i know, it seems reasonable to me.
- I question the accuracy of this sentence, in Phisiology: "It is able to change color rapidly from spotty to even-colored." I've searched and been unable to find any confirmation of color-changing abilities in mola mola - anyone else care to contribute a source? PaladinWhite 23:27, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] 4 April, 2007 Copyedit
I've just gone through and spent quite a while copyediting the article. It has the potential to be a great one and already includes lots of good information, but to be quite honest, some sections read like a 6th-grade science report.
I left the Sightings section alone, because I wasn't confident in editing it - some of the entries sound trivial ("A dead fish floated into a river, and some students saw some fish... at an institution designed to watch fish... So what?") but I thought I'd leave the opportunity for someone else to add information expounding on the significance of the sightings. Obviously, these things aren't all that rare, and just seeing one doesn't really qualify for an entry on Wikipedia - I think we need to eliminate those which aren't significant in some way.
Other than that... If you feel like it, please take a couple minutes and read the diff, see if I screwed anything up in the process! PaladinWhite 00:12, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
