Ocean sunfish migrations
The ocean’s strangest silhouette — sightings cluster along temperate coasts and famously peak seasonally at Bali’s cleaning stations.
See ocean sunfish dive sites · zoom in and select a glow to open that coast on the dive map
The ocean sunfish year, in real records
The ocean’s strangest silhouette — sightings cluster along temperate coasts and famously peak seasonally at Bali’s cleaning stations. The map above animates 17,225 recorded observations of Mola mola — CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records accessed through GBIF, binned by calendar month, peaking in September. Sightings are history, not a forecast: they show where people have actually seen this animal, which is strong planning context and never a guarantee.
Where the year peaks
The regions holding the most recorded ocean sunfish sightings, and the months when each one runs hottest — computed from the same dataset the map animates.
- California & Pacific NorthwestJul–Dec10,468 sightingsdive sites here
- MediterraneanMay2,498 sightingsdive sites here
- US & Canada — Atlantic coastMay1,810 sightingsdive sites here