Even a couple of days later, this encounter still blows my mind. I was on a 2 day trip on the Conception to the Channel Islands when I came across this amazing scene. I found a juvenile Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) that was being attacked by sealions. They were playing with the poor Mola and had eaten away his pectoral fins so he couldn't get away. He was literally (nearly) dead-in-the-water. They didn't appear to be interested in eating the Mola, but were playing with him like a cat plays with a mouse. I have seen Molas a couple times from the boat, but never underwater.
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Wow, that's crazy! I wonder if it's "training" for the young?
Cheers
James
I was diving in Monterey some years back and had a similar experience. On our way out we saw some some cute juvenile molas swimming through the kelp. I snapped some pics. On our way back, we saw the same molas sans fins. One was wriggling on the bottom and the other was being batted around by the sea lions. Seems this activity is a national sport for California sea lions!
Poor creature, great catch of this behavior.
I used to be a kayak tour guide in Monterey and every few weeks or so we'd find molas floating on the surface that had been finned and chewed up by the sea lions. A coworker swore that she once saw the sea lions tossing one around like a frisbee...
Hmm, sounds similar to human childhood behavior of pulling wings off flies, or legs off spiders...
The only mola I've ever seen had been de-finned by a sea lion as well! (Monterey). I saw some mola silhouettes in Galapagos one year.
Hopefully I'll have a real encounter with one someday.
Got to get to Crystal Bay in Bali around September Eric !
