Skip to main content
Browse the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYZ
Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

Contents
Related Images

Submitted by admin on April 22, 2009 - 22:35

SUNFISH

(Mola mola).

This giant oceanic fish is not uncommon off the New Zealand coast. It is a lazy swimmer and is usually recognised by the tall dorsal fin, somewhat drooped at the tip, which cleaves the surface. The Auckland Museum has the cast of a specimen stranded at Leigh in 1931 which was 9 ft in height and weighed 10 cwt 7 lb. This fish is harmless.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

Co-creator

Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.