Posted by Gerry Smith on November 29, 2000 at 11:52:29:
In Reply to: Sunfish posted by JRM on November 29, 2000 at 10:18:05:
We saw lots of sunfish (mola mola) all summer long while collecting sea jellies for the Aquarium. If you want to see them, hang out in the San Pedro channel near Catalina and look for kelp patties. The same forces that put the patties in long windrows between adjacent water masses concentrate the jellies which are mola mola's favorite lunch. For most of the summer, it was impossible to check out a kelp patty without seeing two or more ocean sunfish. One of the aquarium biologists got so friendly with a sunfish that she could groom it (pick parasites) at will. These fish are common off Catalina in the summer, but I don't think they're as common in the Santa Barbara Channel.