Species: Masturus lanceolatus, Sharptail mola


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.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine Only
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Offshore Only
- Offshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Mid Water
- Water column only
- Near Surface
- Surface
- Habitat
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- Water column
- FishBase Habitat
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- Bathypelagic
- Feeding Group
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- Planktivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Data
- Pelagic crustacea
- Pelagic jellyfish/ctenophores
- Pelagic fish larvae
- Egg Type
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- No data
- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- 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
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- Island (s)
- Continent
- Continent + Island (s)
- All species
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic
- Eastern Pacific non-endemic
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- 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
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- Not evaluated / Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 259
- Depth Range Min
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- 0
- Depth Range Max
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- 670