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 & 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

Lifespan 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