Photo: Kevin Weng

We love sunfish and need a better understanding of their numbers in the Galápagos archipelago. To do this, D r. Tierney Thys, Dr.Alex Hearn and their team have been tagging individuals with both satellite and acoustic tag s and now with your help we want to try an additional exciting new tracking technique. This method takes advantage of the natural spotty markings on the skin of sunfish to identify between individuals. Using a computer-assisted method for scanning images we hope to determine whether submitted photographs and screen grabs from videos are of resighted sunfish, or of new ‘unmarked’ individuals.

The Galápagos Islands provides the ideal location for this work as it is known from our previous work that individual sunfish remain around the archipelago throughout the year. This project complements an ongoing “mola matching” program underway in Bali, Indonesia led by Dr. Marianne Nyegaard. Together these efforts are aimed at enabling a robust method for estimating population size and variations in the numbers of sunfish at various locations throughout their range.

With your photos we can build this photo database to provide a better understanding of the movements of Galápagos sunfish which are essential to any long-term conservation efforts.

Thank you for your contributions.

Galápagos Sunfish Sighting Reporter

Name (first and last)

Email Address

Date of this sighting (in format MM/DD/YYYY). Please comment on your certainty that this is the correct date i.e is it exact or an estimated date.

General Location of the sighting (which island, etc.)

Please provide GPS coordinates for this sighting if you have them. It is extraordinarily helpful to have this information even if it is an estimate.

If you are including GPS coordinates, are they... If you are including GPS coordinates, are they... Exact Approximate

Was the fish alive or dead?

Please describe the encounter including number of Sunfish, fish behaviour, water temperature if known, and any other details you consider pertinent.

If measured, what was the LENGTH from mouth to edge of tail?

If measured, what was the WIDTH from tip of dorsal fin tip to tip of anal fin.

Any additional comments?

If you have video files, please provide a download link to the file(s) here.

Attach up to three images, (under 5MB in JPEG format). By submitting, you represent that you own the image and are not infringing upon anyone's copyright. You give permission to use the image on this site and in the researcher's presentations with proper citation.

Select an image to upload. Please know that, in particular, photos of the fish's tail may allow determination of species of Sunfish. Please fill in a new form for each encounter .

Name for photo credit if different from that already provided

Please confirm that we may use your photo for education and research purposes with photo credit as specified in the answers provided above. Please confirm that we may use your photo for education and research purposes with photo credit as specified in the answers provided above. Yes No

If you have submitted this Mola sighting to another sightings database, which one(s)?

10 + 7 =