A study coordinated by ISPRA, Italy’s public institute for environmental protection and research, has shed new light on the ocean sunfish (Mola mola) in the Mediterranean, a large and widespread species that is still poorly known. The work, with 27 authors, was published in Marine Environmental Research and announced by ISPRA in October 2026.
The team combined three sources: a review of existing knowledge, 1,583 sightings made between 2009 and 2022 from ferries on fixed routes in the western Mediterranean and the Adriatic, and environmental DNA samples collected between 2022 and 2024, which detect the species from genetic traces left in the water.
Sunfish were found most often in the north-western Mediterranean, especially the Ligurian-Provençal basin, with more sightings in spring and in cooler waters. Environmental DNA confirmed the observations and also detected the species at night, often alongside lanternfish, one of its prey, and jellyfish.
The authors conclude that the two methods complement each other and that knowledge of the species in the Mediterranean remains limited. The study should help show how the sunfish’s distribution may change as the sea changes.
