A sunfish, also known as moonfish or mola-mola, gets cleaned by a small school of banner fishes on a reef off Bali, in Indonesia. The sunfish is the largest bony fish in the ocean and can reach a height of more than two meters, as this specimen. It is a pelagic fish, which means it prefers to leave in deep waters far from land masses; as its skin can host more than 50 different species of parasites, the sunfish needs to get closer to the reefs to get cleaned by smaller fishes: Bali is the only place in the world where such behavior follows a recurring seasonal patters. In the months from July to October, several specimens approach the shores and stay put until cleaned by the eager banner fishes. Not much is known about the mola-mola and it is therefore difficult to estimate its chances of survival in our age.
The video was shot by myself (see notes below) on September 10, 2023, using a Canon S120.
This video has not been shared with other licensing agencies.
Brief notes about the author: born in 1970 in northern Italy, graduated in Economics in 1996, started traveling soon afterwards working onboard cruise ships and as scuba diving guide; graduated in Interpreting and translation in 2013, set off traveling again with the passion to record cool stuff under and above the water. Compulsive reader and amateur writer.