They’re the heaviest bony fish on Earth! One bump-head sunfish found in 2021 weighed 6,049 pounds. That’s more than a rhino! (Whale sharks are bigger, but their skeletons are made of cartilage, not bone.) 🦏

A sunfish mom can carry up to 300 million eggs! That’s almost as many eggs as there are people in the United States! 🥚

Baby sunfish are smaller than a grain of rice! They’re about 0.1 inches long and covered in spikes. And they grow fast. A sunfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium went from 57 pounds to 880 pounds in just 15 months! 🍚

They don’t have a real tail. Instead, they have a stubby flap called a clavus that steers like a boat’s rudder. They swim by flapping their top and bottom fins like wings. They only swim about 1-2 mph, but they can still travel up to 16 miles a day. 🐟

They like to sunbathe. Sunfish often float on their side near the surface, soaking up the sun. Scientists think it may help them warm up after diving into cold, deep water. 🌞

They can jump as high as a basketball hoop! Even though they’re slow swimmers, they can launch up to 10 feet out of the water. Scientists think it may help them shake off parasites (They carry more than 40 kinds of parasites!). 🏀

Sunfish can’t close their mouths! Their teeth are joined together into a beak, so their mouth always stays open. They also have a second set of teeth in their throat to help shred their food. 🦷

They eat more than jellyfish. Jellyfish are a big part of their diet, but they also eat small fish, squid, crabs, and baby eels. 🪼

They can change colors! They can quickly turn from light to dark, especially when they’re attacked. Their skin is also almost 3 inches thick. Instead of scales, it’s covered in rough, slimy mucus (like snot). ⬛

One sunfish got lonely when its aquarium closed! In December 2024, the Kaikyokan aquarium in Japan closed for repairs. Soon after, its sunfish stopped eating. Staff put cardboard cutouts of people by its tank and it started eating again the next day! 😊