When people come to Bali and hear about the Sunfish most simply call it Mola Mola and on many websites you will find the same name. But is it really Mola Mola that we are seeing here?
Did you know that there are actually several different species of Sunfish and the ones we get here in Bali are actually not Mola Mola?
It was long believed they were, but after a lot more research and even genetic tests, it has been confirmed that the species in Bali is another one, and the big news from 2015 was it is actually Mola Ramsayi!
Some dive operators and websites have changed their posts and description afterwards, but guess what… It is not that easy and in the scientific world things can change quite quickly, as by September 2017 it was found that the Mola Ramsayi was already described before and is actually a Mola Alexandrini.
Can it get any more confusing? Well let’s see what comes next, for the time being we will keep our posts as simply Sunfish, or Mola just to be save 😉
The season seems to be starting already and the Mola sightings are getting more regular around the dive sites like Nusa Penida, or the offshore islands of Gili Tepekong and Gili Mimpang just outside of Padang Bai. The All4Diving Indonesia is ready for high season and hopefully we and all our guests will see a lot of Mola’s this year. We are still working closely with the Bali sunfish project and are actually keeping a record of all our dives and sightings, but also non sightings are equally important and are recorded as well. Our experienced team has a combined knowledge of countless years diving in this area, so please come and join us and let us guide you around the Bali waters.
There are so many different dive sites around and Bali has much more to offer, than being one of the best spots in the world to see the sunfish diving. Manta point is equally famous and Manta sightings are almost guaranteed all year round, shipwrecks, stunning reefs and lot’s more.
We are looking forward to welcome you in Bali soon.
The All4Divingindonesia Team.