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Species: Masturus lanceolatus, Sharptail mola

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shallow oval, height ~ 2/3 length
D & A very high
C with central point
lips horizontal

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Masturus lanceolatus (Liénard, 1840)

Sharptail mola

Body a shallow oval, its depth ~ 2/3 its length, strongly compressed; mouth tiny, a horizontal slit when closed, opens at the front, is a beak (without a central suture) composed of teeth fused to the jaws; gill openings small, on side just before pectorals; gill rakers are covered with skin; pectorals short, rounded; no pelvics; no tail base; dorsal fin ~ 19, anal fin ~ 16, pectoral fin ~ 9,  dorsal and anal fins long, high and curved, symmetrical, used for locomotion, at rear of body, their rear rays joined to tail fin immediately behind them that is reduced to a vertically elongate, short, blunt rudder, without bony ossicles on its margin, with an elongate central tip; skin thick, tough, with small round denticles.

Grey brown above, silvery below, fins dark.

Size: 259 cm.

Habitat: oceanic.

Depth: 0-670 m.

Circumglobal, tropical to warm temperate; juveniles collected between Clipperton and the Galapagos, an adult at La Paz, SW Gulf of California.


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Salinity
  • Marine Only
  • Marine
Inshore/Offshore
  • Offshore Only
  • Offshore
Water Column Position
  • Mid Water
  • Water column only
  • Near Surface
  • Surface
Habitat
  • Water column
FishBase Habitat
  • Bathypelagic
Feeding Group
  • Planktivore
  • Data
Diet
  • Pelagic crustacea
  • Pelagic jellyfish/ctenophores
  • Pelagic fish larvae
  • Data
Egg Type
  • No data
  • Pelagic
  • Pelagic larva
Global Endemism
  • All species
  • East Pacific + all Atlantic (East+West)
  • TEP non-endemic
  • East Pacific + Atlantic (East +/or West)
  • "Transpacific" (East + Central &/or West Pacific)
  • Circumtropical ( Indian + Pacific + Atlantic Oceans)
  • Transisthmian (East Pacific + Atlantic of Central America)
Regional Endemism
  • Continent
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • All species
  • Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic
  • Eastern Pacific non-endemic
  • Island (s)
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
  • Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo)
  • Northern Tropical (Mexican Province to Nicaragua + Revillagigedos)
IUCN Red List
  • Not evaluated / Listed
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 259
Depth Range Min
  • 0
Depth Range Max
  • 670