Ocean Sunfish

• It grows to 60 million times its weight at hatching, the greatest increase known in any vertebrate.
• It can lay up to 300 million eggs in a single spawning, the highest fecundity known in any bony fish.
• Despite its great size, its skeleton is mostly cartilage rather than bone.
• reproducciónIt is the heaviest bony fish in the world and can lay close to 300 million eggs in one spawning, more than any other vertebrate known.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - skeleton made mostly of cartilage rather than bone (atypical bony fish)

Habitat and environment

Temperate and tropical ocean waters worldwide, from the surface to deep water

Birth weight

An egg of ~1.3 mm; an early larva barely 0.25 cm long

Size at birth

0.25 cm long in its first larval stage

Sexual maturity

5-7 years

Gestation / incubation

No gestation as such; the egg develops into a larva in the water after external fertilisation

Litter / clutch size

Up to 300 million eggs per spawning, the highest fecundity known in any bony fish

Life expectancy in captivity

More than 10 years documented in captivity

Sources consulted: Animal Diversity Web · AnAge (genomics.senescence.info) · Ocean Sunfish Research (oceansunfish.org) · A-Z Animals · PMC (genome study) · Bali'n'Go