The Labor Day weekend will be a date that many neighbors and tourists of Sonoma County, California, United States, will remember for their entire lives. This will especially be true for the Sonoma State University professor, Stefan Kiesbye, who was collecting trash washed up by the sea on Doran Beach, in Bodega Bay. While doing this task, he stumbled upon what he initially thought was a sea lion, as he explained to The Press Democrat.
However, it was a sunfish of the species Mola tecta. Upon returning home, he researched and discovered that it was an example of the species discovered by Marianne Nyegaard in 2017. The county ranger Melanie Gutiérrez stated to SF Gate that after responding to a shark alert at the beach, they confirmed it was a sunfish. The images of it were shared on the iNaturalist portal, where many users agreed that the cause of the specimen’s death seemed to be related to an injury in the rear fin. For its part, the staff of the Doran Regional Park requested help from the Bodega Marine Laboratory to collect samples and analyze the body.
Mola tecta moonfish
It is a type of marine tetraodontiform fish, characterized by its rounded body and thick, scaly skin. It was discovered in 2017 by New Zealand researcher Marianne Nyegaard. The main difference from the common sunfish, the Mola mola, is that it does not have protrusions on its head and represents a narrower clavis. Another difference from other sunfish species is that the Mola testa also inhabits waters of the northern hemisphere, dispelling the notion that it is exclusive to the southern region.
“We knew that the Mola tecta was present in the Humboldt Current off the coast of South America, as far north as Peru, but we did not believe that it would cross the warm equatorial belt, at least not very often,” said Nyegaard after specimens were found from California to Alaska. Additionally, he explained that it has been concluded that this species is capable of crossing those warm waters by diving to greater depths.
Strange creature at Doran Beach
The Labor Day weekend of 2025 has become a marked date for many of the residents and tourists of Sonoma County, California. One of the key figures was professor Stefan Kiesbye from Sonoma State University, who found a strange body on the shore of Doran Beach in Bodega Bay. Kiesbye was picking up the trash that the sea brought to the shore when he saw what he initially thought was a stranded sea lion, as he stated to The Press Democrat.
However, as he got closer, he observed an animal with an oval body, with no tail or visible dorsal fin, about two meters long. After taking several photos, he returned home and began his research. He came across a 2019 article that documented the discovery of a Mola Tecta sunfish at the Coal Oil Point Reserve of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
What happened with the Mola Tecta fish?
According to Ariana Reguzzoni, spokesperson for Sonoma County Parks, “it was quite shocking” to see how some of those present were trying to return the fish to the sea, while others just watched. County ranger, Melanie Gutierrez, stated to SFGate that they were first alerted to the presence of sharks on the beach, but upon arriving, they found that it was a specimen of sunfish. The exact cause of the animal’s death has not yet been determined, although many users of the iNaturalist website agreed that it might be related to an injury it showed near its rear fin.
