this is the mola mola, also called the ocean sunfish
it's my one true love and my life goal is to become a mola mola
why? because mola mola is basically an evolutionary mistake that is somehow still alive and thriving
these things are basically microscopic as eggs so they get eaten by predators reaaaallly easily
but then the mola mola was like: "hmm well should i grow bigger or stronger? nah let me just lay more eggs than is possible for them to eat" and so one mola mola lays millions and millions of eggs at a time, multiple times in their life.
I called this fish an evolutionary mistake, but why?
1. you know the tail that most fishes have to swim? yea the mola mola doesn't have it. instead it has 2 overgrown dorsal fins (one on top and one below) obviously because of this it moves very, very slowly
2. it doesn't really have any pain receptors. sometimes on the Internet you'll find pictures of the mola mola with a huge bite mark in it. yes that is because sea lions sometimes like to just take one big munch out of the mola mola, then swim away. what does the mola mola do? keep swimming that's what it does
3. this thing doesn't have a swim bladder. you know the thing that allows fish to swim up and down? yea the mola mola doesn't have it. instead it just so happens to have some kind of tissue (i don't understand the specifics but yes) that has a similar density to water, which then allows it to do dives into the sea to find food and then go back up to the surface to sunbathe
4. the mola mola likes to dive down to find food, and you know the deeper you go the colder it gets? you would think the mola mola would have developed some smart internal system to keep warm but NO this thing just gets cold down there then comes back to the surface to literally sunbathe on the surface of the ocean to warm back up (hence the name sunfish)
5. did you know that mola mola can't close their mouths? it's just permanently stuck gaping all the time. and then it swims around and then at some point food is going to get sucked into its mouth. just like that.
this creature is literally doing the bare minimum and still living. it's my role model. if only i was born a mola mola :(
(descriptions may or may not be slightly inaccurate because I'm not a marine biologist)
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