Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SWIMMING WITH MOLA MOLA
Between July and October the waters around Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida offer the
best chance most people will ever have of spotting a
mola mola
(oceanic sunfish), one of
the most elusive and startling of underwater creatures. The heaviest bony fish in the world,
it has an average weight of 1000kg. Some specimens weigh more than double that and
grow up to 3m long, roughly the size of a small car.
Mola
is Latin for millstone, which it
resembles in being huge, grey, rough and rounded in shape - it has no tail. Fortunately it
is docile and no danger to divers, as it eats jellyfish and other gelatinous marine life. Much
remains unknown about this gentle giant but it is thought to spend most of its life well be-
low 200m.
For some reason the annual shift of ocean currents brings mola mola up to shallower wa-
ters for a few months each year, which is when enthusiasts and the merely curious head to
the seas around these two small islands in the hope of spotting one.
