The mola mola fish, or sunfish, is in fact a fish, but looks more like an alien from outer space. This squashed, Frisbee-shaped sea creature can weigh up to 5,000 pounds and can grow to over 10 feet long! What’s even weirder is that sunfish carry around 40 kinds of tiny bugs called parasites on their scales. They let other weird fish (like half-moon fish) eat the parasites. None of this sounds tasty, but it keeps everyone happy.
Wee ones: If you find a 10-foot sunfish and your car is just 1 foot longer, how long is your car?
Little kids: If a 2,000-pound mola mola runs into an even yuckier-looking 5,000-pound one, how much heavier is the bigger fish? Bonus: Do they weigh more together than your 4,000-pound car?
Big kids: Sunfish love to eat jellyfish, but also eat squid, shrimp, and crab, among other things. If a sunfish eats 40 of each of those, how many animals did it eat? Bonus: Most sunfish are only about 6 feet long, and about 6 feet tall, too, since they’re almost circular. About how much taller than you is the sunfish in feet and inches? (Or if you’re taller, how much taller are you?)
Answers:
Wee ones: 11 feet.
Little kids: 3,000 pounds. Bonus: Yes, since together they weigh 7,000 pounds.
Big kids: 160 animals. Bonus: Different for everyone…the sunfish is about 72 inches tall, so subtract your height in inches from 72 or subtract 72 from your height.
