The ocean sunfish Mola mola : insights into distribution, abundance and behaviour in the Irish and Celtic Seas Houghton, Jonathan D.R., Doyle, Thomas K., Davenport, John and Hays, Graeme C. 2006, The ocean sunfish Mola mola : insights into distribution, abundance and behaviour in the Irish and Celtic Seas, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, vol. 86, no. 5, pp. 1237-1243, doi: 10.1017/S002531540601424X. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads hays-oceansunfish-2006.pdf Published version application/pdf 541.83KB 637 Title The ocean sunfish Mola mola : insights into distribution, abundance and behaviour in the Irish and Celtic Seas Author(s) Houghton, Jonathan D.R. Doyle, Thomas K. Davenport, John Hays, Graeme C. orcid.org/0000-0002-3314-8189 Journal name Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom Volume number 86 Issue number 5 Start page 1237 End page 1243 Total pages 7 Publisher Cambridge University Press Place of publication Cambridge, England Publication date 2006-10 ISSN 0025-3154 1469-7769 Summary Here we provide baseline data on the distribution and abundance of Mola mola within the Irish and Celtic Seas, made during aerial surveys from June to October during 2003–2005. These data were considered in conjunction with concurrent observations of three potential jellyfish prey species found throughout the region: Rhizostoma octopus, Chrysaora hysoscella and Cyanea capillata. A total area of 7850 km2 was surveyed over the three years with an observed abundance of 68 sunfish giving a density of 0.98 ind/100 km2. Although modest, these findings highlight that the species is more common than once thought around Britain and Ireland and an order of magnitude greater than the other apex jellyfish predator found in the region, the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). Furthermore, the distribution of sunfish sightings was inconsistent with the extensive aggregations of Rhizostoma octopus found throughout the study area. The modelled distributions of predator–prey co-occurrence (using data for all three jellyfish species) was less than the observed co-occurrence with the implication that neither jellyfish nor sunfish were randomly distributed but co-occurred more in the same areas than expected by chance. Finally, observed sunfish were typically small ([similar]1 m or less) and seen to either bask or actively swim at the surface. Language eng DOI 10.1017/S002531540601424X Field of Research 069999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Socio Economic Objective 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2006, Cambridge University Press Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30058371 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment School of Life and Environmental Sciences Open Access Collection Centre for Integrative Ecology Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 25 Nov 2013, 13:57:30 EST Tue, 26 Nov 2013, 10:17:06 EST Wed, 05 Feb 2014, 13:31:25 EST Fri, 09 May 2014, 14:41:25 EST Tue, 17 Nov 2015, 13:49:57 EST Tue, 06 Sep 2016, 22:05:47 EST Tue, 05 Dec 2017, 12:44:45 EST Fri, 07 Sep 2018, 16:48:12 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 30 times in TR Web of Science Cited 32 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 693 Abstract Views, 637 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 25 Nov 2013, 13:57:30 EST