Let’s squash this right now. No. These fish are harmless. They have no teeth worth mentioning and no venom. They’re slow and clumsy. Divers love them because they just float there, letting you swim right up. They’re the golden retrievers of the sea.
They can be a hazard to boats, though. Because they’re so big and lazy, they get hit by propellers all the time. Not out of malice! Just oblivious, pancake-y innocence.
Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish) Fish Facts - Mola mola - A-Z Animals
Baby Mola Molas are Unreal
Okay, hold on. I need you to sit down. A mother mola mola can release up to 300 million eggs at once. That’s more than any other vertebrate. And those eggs hatch into larvae that look like tiny, spiky stars. They do not look like the adult fish.
The babies grow these huge fins and a spiky skin. It’s their “I’m a terrifying pufferfish!” disguise. Spoiler: it works. Eventually, they lose the spikes and flatten out into the dinner-plate shape we know. It’s the premier “glow up” in the fish world.
