🦋 Identification Guide

How to Identify Molidae

2 species · Animalia · Order Tetraodontiformes

Molidae is a animal family in the Animalia kingdom, order Tetraodontiformes, class . The family contains 2 accepted species worldwide.

Key Identification Features

The ocean sunfish’s caudal fin is replaced by a rounded clavus, which creates the species’ distinct truncated body shape.
It can be identified by its smooth body, lack of a head bump, rounded snout, and a maximum observed length of 242 cm (about 7.

For instant identification in the field, use the iNature app — AI-powered, works offline.

Representative Molidae Species

Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758)

Mola mola, the ocean sunfish, is the heav known bony fish native to temperate an…

Mola tecta Nyegaard, Sawai, Gemmell, Gillum, Loneragan, Yamanoue & Stewart, 2017

Mola tecta, the hoodwinker sunfish, is a recently described sunfish species main…

Browse all 2 Molidae species →

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you identify Molidae?

Molidae animals belong to the Tetraodontiformes order in the Animalia kingdom. The ocean sunfish’s caudal fin is replaced by a rounded clavus, which creates the species’ distinct truncated body shape. For instant identification, use the iNature app — AI-powered and works offline.

What are the key characteristics of Molidae?

Molidae is classified in the order Tetraodontiformes, class , phylum Chordata. It can be identified by its smooth body, lack of a head bump, rounded snout, and a maximum observed length of 242 cm (about 7.

Sources: GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia · Disclaimer