Mola mola

Scubashooters Dot Net From scubashooters.net Editor's Choice Silent Giant Upload Date: August 02 2013 Scientific Name: Common Name: Mola mola Location: Bali Diving Center: Lens: Housing: Ikelite Strobes: Ikelite DS-160 Date Shot: September 26 2012 Camera Make: NIKON …

Håvard Lindgård Fagernes Mola mola - nusa penida indonesia canon s110

Ilse Merz I saw it theRe two days ago!!

Willie Fotodive Once only seen on TV, then I was even photographing it, The Mola Mola. www.FotoDive.ch Früher nur am TV gesehen, dann war es mir sogar möglich sie zu fotografieren, Die Mola Mola

Andrea Hess Fantastic, great, incredible, wonderful :-D - I wish I could see one, too. My next holiday is Bali, but I have been four times before witout one.

Jenny Herrera Great picture so lucky to see it! Where was this taken?

Willie Fotodive If you go to Bali, from where I took the picture, go diving with http://www.scuba-libre-bali.com/ , Herbert Goller and he will show them to you. Send him my regards, Willie Fotodive

Dray Van Beeck Finally my first Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) at Chrystal bay, Nusa Penida, Bali. Great experience.

Stephane Primatesta Mola mola

Willie Fotodive Once only seen on TV, then I was even photographing it, The Mola Mola. www.FotoDive.ch Früher nur am TV gesehen, dann war es mir sogar möglich sie zu fotografieren, Die Mola Mola

Giorgio Cavallaro (Y)

Rasmus Raahauge Nielsen Snorkel with Mola Mola near Catalina Island

William Chee Awesome

Rasmus Raahauge Nielsen Thanks William

Willie Fotodive Once only seen on TV, then I was even photographing it, The Mola Mola. www.FotoDive.ch Früher nur am TV gesehen, dann war es mir sogar möglich sie zu fotografieren, Die Mola Mola

Giorgio Cavallaro Uwp MOLA MOLA http://www.uwphotographers.net/2013/04/mola-mola.html

Giorgio Cavallaro http://www.uwphotographers.net/2013/04/mola-mola.html

Willie Fotodive Once only seen on TV, then I was even photographing it, The Mola Mola. www.FotoDive.ch Früher nur am TV gesehen, dann war es mir sogar möglich sie zu fotografieren, Die Mola Mola

Noam Kortler Finally back on land from the Galapagos trip We saw about 7 giant wheal sharks, 15 or more Mola Mola, Penguins, hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, eagle rays, sea lions and more... When I'll get home I 'll start working on the images and post an album for all of you to enjoy Something to look forward....

Craig Weir Cool shot! What is water temp in Galapagos ?

Ron Silver Southern islands - cold! Northern islands - not so cold.

Noam Kortler it was 21 in Wolf and Darwin but 15 in Punta Vecente Roca Very cold but best diving

Beth Barklage Watson Great Shot Noam!

Christian Jansen Amazing shot!

Bloc Dixhuit Egyptian Reef ... NO ! Asian Reef ... NO ! Just the "Mola Mola Reef", in the South of France ( Saint Raphaël ), Mediterranean See

Bloc Dixhuit the real name of this place , in French : " Sec du Poisson Lune" (poisson lune = mola mola)

Gatto Verde mola mola

Stew Smith Mola mola - Bali 33 metres - natural light

Zaide Zainalabidin Nice shot. Excellent vis.

Anton Kusmayanto Woowwww..

Nick Hope Good angle. Never seen a mola look fat like this.

Stew Smith I was lucky enough to get right above the mola and not spook it. Not having strobes helped as others that were using them were spooking the he'll out of them. Iso1600 seemed to do the trick. A lot of people say it looks more like a seal pup at this angle

Stew Smith Mola Mola different perspective. I was lucky enough to be alone at 33 metres with this Mola. 5D MKII - natural light - 15 mm Sigma Crystal Bay

Sherry Hsu Mola Mola @ Nusa Penida

Yos Amerta Very Nice-I saw it one month ago at Crystal Bay-Nusa Penida-Bali

Sherry Hsu Yos Amerta: this one was saw about one month ago at Manta Point/ Nusa Penida. We saw another one in Crystal Bay also. ^_^

Suzan Meldonian So.. Sherry, have your gills finally come in? :~-)) My goodness girl, you spend more time underwater than I do.

Mike Bartick Nice job Shery, we were lucky to see a few of them too...Bali was awesome, I can't wait to return..

Sherry Hsu Suzan Meldonian: I wish I am a fish...haha

Sherry Hsu Mike Bartick: Yeah....Bali is one of the best! ^_^

Nadya Kulagina Very nice encounter yesterday - water temperature +27, no current and 2 mola molas came up to say hello one by one...

Suzan Meldonian beautiful

Alex Mustard Sounds like an awesome encounter

Pipat Cat Mola Mola at Crytal Bay, Bali.

Suzan Meldonian would you share where you were staying or who you were diving with- where this was? Magnifience detail!

Suzan Meldonian sorry- I read this too quickly. do you have a link to Crystal Bay or hotel /diveshop you worked thru?

Kazuhiko Yamada How big this Sun fish?

Pipat Cat Suzan Meldonian You can contact ENA dive center (A 5 star Padi dive center in Bali). http//www.enadive.co.id They can organize everything for you such as diving package, accommodation etc.

Pipat Cat Kazuhiko Yamada About 2 Meters long from head to tail.

Kazuhiko Yamada Thanks.

Chris Wood Sunfish in Devon (forwarded by Sally Sharrock) Seasearch divers from Plymouth had a stunning weekend at the offshore reefs Hatt Rock, Hand Deeps and the Mammaries (two small pinnacles north of the Eddystone) with a feast of jewel anemones and pink sea fans, sightings of the unusual (down here) red cushion star Porania pulvillus, records of Ling and the pink sea fan false cowrie Simnia hiscocki. In the water on our stops nearly all the divers noticed the long string jellies - salps or siphonophores. These are colonial jellies with each different part performing a different function and they can be several metres long. These salps may well be the reason for the many sightings of sunfish Mola mola that we have had lately. Jellyfish (and presumably salps too) are one of their favourite foods. They have been seen both on the surface - usually more than one each day - and more interestingly underwater. The photo is by Seasearch diver Paul Aldersley.

Cathal McNaughton Another mola mola mucking about at the surface, Red Bay, Co Antrim, close to the salmon farm, August 2008. Photo taken with mobile phone over the bow of the boat. We first noticed it by the floppy dorsal fin sticking out of the water but each time we got near it it would dive and then resurface a short distance away. We were trying to get a hold of it to lift it out of the water because a charteer boat skipper reported doing the same thing. I havbe the image taken of him holding the fish. I got my hand to within a foot of this fish but it dived, 3 or 4 times. This fish was about 4 foot from tip of dorsal fin to tip of ventral fin.

Andy Horton http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Sunfish.htm

Cathal McNaughton Would you like to see the one the charter boat man picked out of the water as described on your website? I'm not putting up to much stuff am I??

Andy Horton Yep, there are not all that, many good pictures of Sunfish around the British Isles so any are of interest.

Cathal McNaughton Ok, Hamish wont mind at all. I havent asked to post it but its in his gallery so its available to anyone to view......

Mulyadi Yadi Mr. Mola Mola CANON S100, Manual Setting F 5.6, 1/125, ISO 100 Crystal Bay - Nusa Penida Bali Taken by: Mulyadi Yadi

Ernst Andres <3

Barbara Hoffmann OMG!!!!

Stephane Primatesta Planet coral

Adit Kaleumm very cool idea ^_^

Stephane Primatesta Thanks Adit! Not only Macro in Bali ;-)!

Erik K F Goossens (y)... where in Bali ?

Stephane Primatesta In Candidasa, Cristal Bay, I was waiting for Mola mola but they were not there...

Heike Prell Wow verry nice

Stephane Primatesta Thanks Heike :-)

Donna Lavoie Love Love this....

Stephane Primatesta Thanks Donna :-)

Jo Horrocks Hi BSoUPers, I've finally got round to finishing a shortish video for YouTube from last October's trip to Bali and thought some of you might like a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfbuGzN38z4 If you're on a slow broadband connection, you may need to pause it at the start whilst it loads, then press play Hope you enjoy it, Jo. x

Len Deeley Very beautifully constructed Jo. Wonderful interactions between species. Something us still workers cannot show. We must have another video evening for Photosub soon. Rgds Len >________________________________

Joss Woolf Brilliant Jo! I wonder how many hours of filming and editing that all took. Well worth it though.

John Boyle Lovely film Jo! Really enjoyed it

Jo Horrocks Thanks Len, Joss and John, glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, does take a long time to edit....you've heard of golf widows, well Keith becomes an edit widower when I'm going through the footage!!! ;o) Am getting a bit behind with my editing, the Olympics has been too good!!!

Dave Baker Thanks Jo , going out there in October and it's given a good insight to what i'll see

Dave Baker Thanks Jo , going out there in October and it's given a good insight to what i'll see

Dave Baker Thanks Jo , going out there in October and it's given a good insight to what i'll see

Dave Baker Thanks Jo , going out there in October and it's given a good insight to what i'll see

Dave Baker Thanks Jo , going out there in October and it's given a good insight to what i'll see

Roger Eve Dave you need to have a chat with Lionel Logue to cure that stutter :-))

Jo Horrocks Glad it helped Dave. Hope you have a brilliant time.

Gill McDonald brilliant Jo, the achingly teeny frogfish just makes me ache to go there - as does it all, lovely film gx

Steve Jones lovely work Jo :o)

Paul Scubysnaps Woodburn Hi Jo, I rarely find the patience and time to sit down and watch many underwater vids, btu I made the exception for you ;) That was magnificent, never seen a video like it before, macro too! Love the frogfish fishing!! Awesome, than you :)

Jo Horrocks Thanks Gill, Steve, and Paul!! :-) The teeny frogfish was so cute. Love shooting macro subjects, but you don't see much of it on the telly? Can't wait to get to Ambon to do some more!!

Gill McDonald no you don't, worth building on - Ambon will be perfect x

Paul Scubysnaps Woodburn Did you use that gopro for all that?9

Jo Horrocks Hi Paul, no, this was all with my usual camera, a Sony XR520. The magic filter for the GoPro has just arrived, so will be trying it out in a few weeks, but I think I'll just be using it for different types of shots that you can't get with my usual camera.

Chris Shrubb Brilliant!

Simon Spear Lovely Jo! What part of Bali was it filmed at or did you move around? Loads of critter action, wonderful! :)

Jo Horrocks Thanks Simon. We were based at Tulamben on the north east side of the island. We popped down to Nusa Penida for the day, but I missed the Mola Mola, the rest of the time we were at sites within 30 mins of Tulamben....great place to dive, so many little critters!! :o)

Ken Sullivan Hi Jo, Wonderfull, We are off to Bali in October, your film has just got me in the mood, I can't wait. Ken.

Jo Horrocks Hiya Ken, Thanks :o). You lucky person, hope you have a brilliant time. x

Roger Vincenzi Red Sea ..Nikonos V ...... ( scanned slide )

Torte E Dolcetti Great

Brenda Joss Swan wowww....

Claire McNicoll that's amazing

Neghliz Atika ah waw

Nath Bontemps Il s'est acroche ,:-) .

Neghliz Atika oui

Rick Stratton Wow. That's a great photo.

Patrick Schwarz Nikonos V, what a camera. I have mine ready with a 15mm wide angle lens. If only I could find film....

Roger Vincenzi Patrick , me too the same ...

Patrick Schwarz I took my last Mola Mola shot's with my "5" I had slipped into my BCD pocket, not stropbes, nothing, just available light... with some "left over" Fudji film, and a conservative shop in Bali that still kept some chemicals and did a very decent job processing them... but that's definitely, and sadly, history now.

Giorgio Cavallaro Uwp Amazing

Ron Silver http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=378759088869845&set=a.129277410484682.33599.129009307178159&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf

Roy Mulder I see Mola Mola is ripping off images again. They have been stealing images and even going as far as removing watermarks.

Ron Silver Don't shoot the messenger.......

Faye Wilde Roy Mulder - thanks for letting us know, why can't people just behave themselves *sigh*

Roy Mulder No offense intended Ron, I was just letting people know about a situation. Photographers put a lot of work into their images and credit needs to be acknowledged wherever possible.

Ron Silver Just to let you know, I'm a spotter not a shooter. Hopefully, y'all will play nice and leave the rest of us out of it. :-D

Roy Mulder A good spotter is worth their weight in gold. I have a couple of outstanding spotters and they really make a huge difference when I'm shooting.

Ron Silver Maybe our paths underwater will cross sometime altho I find I'm not getting wet as often as I used to.

Roy Mulder I'm in the water pretty much every week and have been diving for over 38 years...I get around or if you ever find yourself coming Vancouver way, get in touch.

Ron Silver Will do altho as I have gotten older, my strong preference is for warm water and palm trees.

Faye Wilde I like spotting stuff too :-). All very exciting. If the photographer has gone to all the trouble of making an image we should respect their copyright though. It's very sad that people just don't get basic manners. Glad we have this lovely group of people who do. Tank Bangers rock :))

Bloc Dixhuit Egyptian Reef ... NO ! Asian Reef ... NO ! Just the "Mola Mola Reef", in the South of France ( Saint Raphaël ), Mediterranean See

Bloc Dixhuit the real name of this place , in French : " Sec du Poisson Lune" (poisson lune = mola mola)

Clark Miller Cenderawashi Bay. Where whale sharks come to the bagans (mobile fishing platforms) to feed. There use to be many bagans. Now there is only one. They have all been booted out of the vicinity so that there won't be any competition between other fishermen. Cenderawashi Bay is a huge marine park, but the bagans are controlled by the Indonesian fisherman that know, as PT Barnum once said, a sucker is born every minute. It use to cost the dive boats around $50 to play with the whale sharks. But each time a boat arrives the price goes up. Now it's around $600. They know that any boat coming has taken at least a full day to get there, and waving official papers to show that you can dive there with the whale sharks makes no difference to the fishermen. They know they've got you over a barrel (or bagan). Unless the officials running the park take over the process I doubt many other boats will go there much longer. The is no longer any bargain at the bagan, only bargaining at the bagan. Yet still, we got some cool images.

Troy Williams Great photo...informative back story as well. Thank you.

Ron Silver Human greed has reached paradise!

Martin Steinmeier Oh no my plan is to go there at the end of 2013.

Clark Miller There are other places to go see this. Cenderawashi is not the only place.

Marcel Ekkel http://scubasigns.org has done some work with some locals to get sustainable tourism going there. Indeed I recall some challenges coming up a while ago already. Other than whaleshark, there has been some noise about ... Mola Mola being spotted in the area. I got some pictures up at Flickr - whalesharks at http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelekkel/sets/72157624525988682/ and others at http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelekkel/sets/72157624402029695/

Jose Maria Abad Ortega CRISTAL BAY Bali Indonesia October 2012 Nikon D700 Sigma 15 mms Inon Z240X2. F13 1/60

Claudia Weber-Gebert wonderfull - would like to see a MolaMola too.....:-)

Marta Ruiz Vico que pasada, es alucinante, viéndo la imágen de los escalares, se puede imaginar lo impresionante que es de tamaño

Jose Maria Abad Ortega Gracias Marta pues si, la verdad es que son ejemplares de mas de 2 metros que se ven por alli por Bali, al Sur. En esta zona frecuentemente están quietos mientas que otros peces los desparasitan. Este tuve que bajar sobre 45 metros para sacarlo pues ese dia estaban muy abajo.

Jose Maria Abad Ortega Gracias Gemma

Jose Maria Abad Ortega Thanks Claudia The Mola mola is a special fish. I like too :)

Marta Ruiz Vico gracias por tu comentario dándo una explicación tan interesante, la verdad que creo me he quedado corta con mi comentario, pero me conoces y sabes que lo que digo lo siento de verdad, enhorabuena campeón

Miguel Aleixo mola-mola @ Crystal Bay, 37m deep

Jose Maria Abad Ortega Muy bonita de cuando es? Yo los he sacado hace tres dias pues todavia estoy eb bali

Miguel Aleixo about a week ago.. (o meu inglês é melhor do que o meu espanhol ;-)

Suzan Meldonian great shot- what month were you there?

Manfred Mitter I was there last month, but always strong current. 3 divers died within 10 days there

Miguel Aleixo I was there this late September. Did 10 dives around Lembongan & Nusa Penida and saw 3 molas.. I did only 1 dive in Crystal Bay where I saw this one.. I've spotted him from 20 m deep and since there was no current at all I took my chance and dived to 37m where he was.. In almost all other dives (8 of them in Lembongan) the current was strong (but not downwards) and to see the molas I had to go deep (always below 30 m)..

Alexander Niedermair Florian Herzog, hast die Kommentare gelesen ! (Strömung etc.)

Manfred Mitter I was there 4 times, 4 times current. 1 time very strong, i was fighting for my life. The place is nice if there is a Mola Mola and no current, if no Mola Mola there you can forget it.

Paul Semmens An Ocean Sunfish from a pelagic birding trip out of Penzance on Saturday.

Judith Oakley stunning!

David Wilson Saw a Mola mola a few years ago in Poole Bay whilst fishing. It surfaced right next to our boat and we watched it for a few minutes. It was about a metre tall and the same length. After following it for a while it slowly sank out of sight.

Gina Ludwig What a beautiful creature

Jon Ashworth Wait till you see them leap. I have watched several now, clear the water by 6-8ft and land on their sides, awesome!

Paul Semmens Saw one leap on Wednesday. Sometimes they're almost like skimming a stone across the water.

Michelle Hooper We had one about the size of a dinner plate come up to the boat. It had a gull sat on it for a while giving it a clean picking off parasites. I then proceeded to give it a tickle (as you would) before it passed by. Great fish!

Gina Ludwig Wow, would love to see one leaping , I can't imagine them being able to create the velocity to leave the water and would love to tickle one (if it didn't mind ) , they just the loveliest of creatures and with the face of an angel!

Giuseppe D'Urso

Fabio Paparelli Giuseppe D'Urso, fatta questo weekend sull'haven ?

Giuseppe D'Urso Si Fabio esatto!!!!

Fabio Paparelli passami il termine,non voglio essere offensivo!!! ma che botta di culo!! avro fatto almeno 30 immersioni sull'haven e ne ho intravisto solo 1, ma mai riuscito a fotografare!!!!!

Giuseppe D'Urso Si è vero....ne giravano due, ma a questo credo si essergli stato simpatico :-))))

Fabio Paparelli ehehe anche fortunato!! cmq bella complimenti.

Gaby Carias Tucker WOWWW where is this??

Giuseppe D'Urso Thanks Gaby, we were in Liguria on the wreck HAVEN :-))

Barrie Hill is this a mola mola fish?

Giuseppe D'Urso Yes Barrie, in Italia Pesce Luna....

Cathal McNaughton Thoughts please?

Rob Simons Were gonna need a bigger boat?

Penny Martin Possibly a Skate ??? Dipturus intermedia ?? http://www.orkneyskatetrust.org.uk/page4.htm

Ronald Surgenor Mola Mola, or sunfish possibly, I 've seen a few around your area Cathal, mostly around torr head. it looks to rounded for a skate.

Darryl Mayer Yeah, dead or dying Mola mola.

Cathal McNaughton Thanks for responses, this pic has caused some confusion but Im very pleased it is being recognised as mola mola.

Cathal McNaughton Darryl, why do you say dead or dying?

Cathal McNaughton Ronald Ive only seen one personally but I aint on the sea enough anymore, a friend says he sees one every 2 or 3 years, he is out a lot, the above fish was snapped from the shore in Cornwall.

Darryl Mayer Mola mola usually swim "upright", vertically, as per John Dories, not flat in the sea as this one appears to be. Normally spotted from afar by their upright tall dorsal fin piercing the surface if they come up to the warmer shallow waters. Your location sighting might suggest it had been "enjoying" the relative warm water but then became subject to abnormal cooler water temp of that region in winter especially as the area has recently had a big swing in water temps due to the sudden changes in wind direction.

Chris Barrett Sun fish?

Cathal McNaughton But its common for mola mola to lie flat on the surface and bask? The only one I have ever seen was lying almost flat on its side on the surface and did so repeatedly each time it surfaced, have a pic to illustrate, surprisingly silver side.

Darryl Mayer I'm not convinced that a fish of this size lying on its side can be described as basking. More than likely ill. I've seen loads of near death fish exhibitting this "behaviour" (think diseased Salmon etc). No matter, it's a Sunfish. ;-)

Cathal McNaughton Happy New Year Darryl, why are we not in a pub? I wonder then was the one I saw dying? It wasnt a really big fish -approx 4 foot from point to point, I'll stick it up, my cousin got an image of it on its mobile, the one day I went out without a camera!

Neil Garrick-Maidment I would have suggested Mola mola except for the tail out the back of it. Judging by the colouration it is dying or just about dead and has probably been chewed by something. Mola molas do lie on their sides frequently but they tend to have shorter tails. In this case it is probably an old skate or ray of some type.

Cathal McNaughton Hi Neil, its a very difficult image and view of mola mola when first encountered but if you have a look at the same image with anatomical features indicated, further down the page, you may possibly change your mind. It is a very distorted view of the fish, refraction by the wave formation has left it almost unrecognisable. It does take a close look to see it.

Neil Garrick-Maidment I see what you mean, could very well be a Mola. I have seen them in Torbay a number of times and they often lay on their side. I think the jury must be out on this one but as you say seems to lean towards being a mola.

Ron Silver https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=526210570798453&set=a.397721266980718.95422.397715850314593&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf

Ron Silver Mola mola

Payal Razdan more like holy mola?!? Never seen a picture of this before...what a weird/interesting looking fish.

Nautica Bali DiveCenter Manta Ray in Manta Bay-Penida Island... Canon G12

Stuart Pearce Nice shot :)

Ernst Andres Very nice shot :-)

Daniel DY Beauty !

Nautica Bali DiveCenter Thank you Stuart Pearce Thank you Ernst Andres Let's dive in BALI Daniel DY

Daniel DY i just came back last month . .. missed mola mola but met a bunch of manta :D they are sooooooo beautiful !

Daniel DY watch the manta :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAwX-53dRT4

Nautica Bali DiveCenter we met the mola-mola today in crystal bay: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202359876545355&oid=137016539707333&saved

Daniel DY aw!!!!!! thats not fair !

Daniel DY ok . next year bali i will meet u guys . where is your dive center

Nautica Bali DiveCenter our DC is around Nusa Dua..

Daniel DY i see :D nusa dua rich ppl place :D haha

Nautica Bali DiveCenter Not all... some of the divers need only simple accommodation, but perfect experience... If you dive at the right place and the right time.... everything will be fun,,,,

Daniel DY ok

Daniel DY pm me your dive package

Chris Spence Mola Mola - Crystal Bay Nusa Penida Bali D300s 16-35mm @19mm Nauticam Housing Twin z240s ISO 200 f9 1/60

Alistair Merrifield Photobomb?

Chris Spence The Angel Fish?

Alistair Merrifield Or the mola mola? depends on your point of view. :)

Chris Spence Was a big bomb in that case! :-)

Shane Wasik Nice one. What day were you there - we were there yesterday and only saw one on the distance

Chris Spence A very tough day! 45m last Thursday.

Shane Wasik Well done and great shot. Interesting site there - we had it down to 19deg - brrr.

Shane Wasik Oh and get in touch with marianne - she'd love to get some info on your sighting. https://www.facebook.com/SunfishResearch?fref=ts

Chris Spence Thanks Shane will do.

Stephane Primatesta Great shot but it's not a Mola mola, it's a Mola ramsayi as Marianne Nyegaard said to me :-)

Chris Spence Well I never thank you Stephane. I will have to find out the difference.

Chris Spence Well I guess we could have nearly every dive operator in Bali for false advertising.....

Giorgio Cavallaro Uwp http://www.uwphotographers.net/2012/04/uwp-chris-spence.html

Stephane Primatesta I can send you a paper of research on Mola if you want

Chris Spence Sure why not. So are you saying all Mola seen in Bali are Ramsayi?

Stephane Primatesta Yes

Chris Spence Mola Mola - Crystal Bay Nusa Penida Bali D300s 16-35mm @19mm Nauticam Housing Twin z240s ISO 200 f9 1/60

Alistair Merrifield Photobomb?

Chris Spence The Angel Fish?

Alistair Merrifield Or the mola mola? depends on your point of view. :)

Chris Spence Was a big bomb in that case! :-)

Shane Wasik Nice one. What day were you there - we were there yesterday and only saw one on the distance

Chris Spence A very tough day! 45m last Thursday.

Shane Wasik Well done and great shot. Interesting site there - we had it down to 19deg - brrr.

Shane Wasik Oh and get in touch with marianne - she'd love to get some info on your sighting. https://www.facebook.com/SunfishResearch?fref=ts

Chris Spence Thanks Shane will do.

Stephane Primatesta Great shot but it's not a Mola mola, it's a Mola ramsayi as Marianne Nyegaard said to me :-)

Chris Spence Well I never thank you Stephane. I will have to find out the difference.

Chris Spence Well I guess we could have nearly every dive operator in Bali for false advertising.....

Giorgio Cavallaro Uwp http://www.uwphotographers.net/2012/04/uwp-chris-spence.html

Stephane Primatesta I can send you a paper of research on Mola if you want

Chris Spence Sure why not. So are you saying all Mola seen in Bali are Ramsayi?

Stephane Primatesta Yes

Òscar Montferrer 'Even in the quietest moments...' Mola mola at Nusa Penida, Bali Nikon D-200 in Sea&Sea housing; Tokina 10-17; 2 Sea&Sea YS-110 http://www.flickr.com/photos/oscar_montferrer/

John Paul Connor Nice

Òscar Montferrer Thanks! ;-)

Alex Tattersall It has come to our attention that a Facebook page, Mola Mola, has been taking UW images and publishing them with no credit to the author. In certain cases it looks like the copyrights have actually been removed. A number of photographers have complained but have now had their comments removed from the site and are now unable to post their opinions. The site is run by Gonzalo Galan, please boycott or express your concerns to him.

Jonny Simpson-Lee Thanks chum!!! Filth!!!!

John Bantin Molo Mola? Is that a FB site for dentists? Don't go there. It just gives more traffic.

Alex Tattersall Haha

Robert White looks like SOME images have been removed. Good work those who've persisted!

Len Deeley Trying to find the site but search mola mola comes up with a cafe! Where can I find it? Wanna make sure my images are not on it.

Theresa Cloake https://www.facebook.com/MolaMolaDivers

David Henshaw Alex, how do you know his name - many thanks for the posting.

Alex Tattersall Because I'm a nosy busy body :)

Chris Kroll https://vimeo.com/56749795 One years worth of mine and Renée Bradshaw's best underwater footage taken in Thailand (Koh Tao, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Haa), Indonesia (Nusa Penida, Bali) and Malaysia (Sipadan, Mabul) throughout 2012 using only a GoPro HD Hero 2 with Oculus flat lens and red filter. *For the full experience, view in Fullscreen and HD.* We took around 6 hours of footage this year and this video features the best 12 minutes. After approximately 60 hours of editing, trimming and selecting footage over the past 2 months this is the final product. Featuring Whale Sharks, Bull Sharks, White Tip Reef Sharks, Grey Reef Sharks, Leopard Sharks, Manta Rays, Green Turtles, Hawksbill Turtles, Mola Mola, Barracuda, Octopus, Moray Eels, Bumphead Parrotfish and more. Enjoy!

Jol Falcés From Mola Mola, in Costa Brava!

Jol Falcés Mola Mola, mooooola!

Jol Falcés from Mola Mola group in Facebook! Thank you friends!

Alex Tattersall It has come to our attention that a Facebook page, Mola Mola, has been taking UW images and publishing them with no credit to the author. In certain cases it looks like the copyrights have actually been removed. A number of photographers have complained but have now had their comments removed from the site and are now unable to post their opinions. The site is run by Gonzalo Galan, please boycott or express your concerns to him.

Karine Maurice well done Alex

Patrick Ong Thanks Alex for bringing this out... otherwise no one will notice and is UNFAIR and ridiculous to the Author. Mola Mola maybe is time you should REMOVE your own page...

Alistair Merrifield Statement on the Mola Mola FB website: translated by Bing: Due to some comments on the images that we publish, we would like to clarify some points:-in Mola Mola Divers, we do not retocamos or manipulate any image to remove names of photographers or image rights. -All photos published on our wall are taken from internet and approximately 50% of these contain credits in the 1st comment. Uncredited photos are because either they did not have or could not access them. -MolaMola Divers never aims to dupe their followers photos belong to us or are own production - MolaMola Divers is not a non-profit organization, does business with photos here published, nor makes use of them in bad faith. -MolaMola Divers formed by marine biologists and professional divers who share the same objectives of his followers: appreciate and share the beauty and importance of marine life through images of everyone who makes a great effort to photograph these environments. -If these images help even a little to generate more awareness on the preservation of the oceans, this diffusion is beneficial for all. -Invite photographers and people in general to help us with the task spread the beauty of the oceans through images if you are a photographer and would like to share your work through MolaMola Divers, we will appreciate much, send us your copyright or web site to publish it along with the picture. If your photo is published and do not want to share it, let us know and we will withdraw immediately.

Alistair Merrifield .... and one comment by a "liker" of the page: "people need to stop being so petty over a picture , if you dont want people to see your pictures then dont take any i love mola mola"....

Nayan Savla could you post a link to their page or site. i am not able to find it. if we report abuse to Facebook as infringing on copyright they might be able to shut the page.

Alistair Merrifield You can probably only report it if your own image is being abused: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/MolaMolaDivers

Ken Thongpila Totally agree with all that... All uw photographers are getting together now and try to send messages to this site and FB... and we still keep doing it until they get the message and do the right things... THEY JUST CAN'T CROP OUR COPYRIGHT OUT AND LOADED AS THEY WORK!!! One thing very strange... the LIKEs are going up like 300+ within 24 hours... and lots of them are photographers! I still don't understand.... Seriously!

Alistair Merrifield Probably so the photographers can keep tabs on what images the group is posting.

Ken Thongpila Sorry guys! Normally I HATED politic and Don't want any discuss about politic on the group... BUT ... this time exceptional as it concern to every one RIGHT!!!

Ken Thongpila Our group didn't have effect much as we don't have "Gonzalo Galan" on our members... LUCKY :-)

Alistair Merrifield Well, he has deleted my comment on the site and locked me off from futher comments. (Not that I really care!).

Alex Tattersall Sad that he has chosen to delete all of the comments of all the photographers that he has taken from, just like nothing ever happened!

Mona Dienhart This is just crazy, well I might still be able to post there, let's see

Karine Maurice Yes Alex and that means he doesn't want to tell the truth

Claudia Weber-Gebert I could still post on their discussion - but a lot of comments from this morning are deleted! That's really sad, because I think that they have good intentions!

Karine Maurice unfortunately good intentions doesn't go well with bad behaviour

Alex Tattersall They just don't think they have done anything wrong!

Chris Spence Not good at all! And as Alistair said a lot of comments from people on the site saying we shouldn't be so precious aren't helping because they don't really understand the issue. I don't always put a copyright on my photos but now I think it will be a must. Good work on this Alex!

Lawrence Alex Wu Hi Alex Tattersall...I've seen some other photos that I know belong to others too...here's a link to another one but I can't remember who's it is. All I know is that it was awarded a few years ago. This is really attritional what this page is doing!! ...hope none of mine are up there!! Http://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=309008715844883&id=129009307178159&set=a.129277410484682.33599.129009307178159&refid=20&_ft_=fbid.309008729178215

Karl Fehlauer Yeah it isn't good - if they asked then it wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately none oif my stuff is worth stealing so it has never affected me ;-(

Karine Maurice Lawrence Alex Wu: the link doesn't work

Claudia Weber-Gebert the comments of Alistair are deleted....unfortunately :-(

Alistair Merrifield Exactly the same for me. I put a rational considerate arguement on his page saying why we should get credit and got FB to remove my pix. In return, he deleted my comments and blocked me. he said 50% of his pics didn't have credits or permission (because he couldn't get it). That is actually 200 photos!

Alistair Merrifield It's not like we are mean people who are precious about our photos.... we just want acknowledgement!

Alistair Merrifield And 192 photos remaining from 400.... good work, chaps!

Terry Nichols Mola mola ROCK!

Alex Tattersall It has come to our attention that a Facebook page, Mola Mola, has been taking UW images and publishing them with no credit to the photographer. In certain cases it looks like the copyrights have actually been removed. A number of photographers have complained but have now had their comments removed from the site and are now unable to post their opinions. The site is run by Gonzalo Galan, please boycott or express your concerns to him.

Adam Hanlon Wetpixel interviews Daniel Botelho. Daniel's stunning mola mola image was selected as one of the twenty five most awe inspiring images of 2012 by internet giant AOL. In 2012, Daniel has shot sharks in Hawaii and Tiger beach, crocodiles in the Okavango and great whites without cages. Wetpixel tracked him down between trips and he was kind enough to answer a few questions about his inspirations and plans. http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/an-interview-with-daniel-botelho/

Alex Tattersall It has come to our attention that a Facebook page, Mola Mola, has been taking UW images and publishing them with no credit to the author. In certain cases it looks like the copyrights have actually been removed. A number of photographers have complained but have now had their comments removed from the site and are now unable to post their opinions. The site is run by Gonzalo Galan, please boycott or express your concerns to him.

Jean Tresfon See one of there recent uncredited images belongs to Drew Wong...

Jean Tresfon Also just posted a very polite message requesting that they ask for and credit all pictures used, and of course my comment was removed...

Alex Tattersall That is the issue really, if you have made a mistake obliviously then you can apologise and address this issue. But to delete the comments of the photographers whose photos you have used uncredited is just too much.

Amos Nachoum I was informed by few great friends online - that they have seen my recently posted image of the Penguins facing a leopard seal with open jaws...and copyright symbol, my name and the caption were removed - all done by the site name Mola Mola - can we or as many as we can concern photographer - send these guys at Mola Mola that we are aware of their wrong doing and request them to stop and give credit to every image??? Thank you

Jean Tresfon Amos suggest you go the same route as Drew... Report the matter to FB as IP Theft...

Ferran Sanchez Spanish Mola Mola. http://bit.ly/MzABYc

Andy Horton MARINE LIFE NEWS BULLETIN TORPEDO (September 2012) Hello, MARINE LIFE NEWS BULLETIN TORPEDO (September 2012)Issue 189ISSN 1464-8156 For technical reasons, TORPEDO is no longer being sent out by EMail. It is simply easier to view the bulletins on the web pages. Please find a copy of the bulletin at:http://http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Torpedo2012Sept.htm includes News Reports:Pilot Whale & Sei Whale strandings.Spearfish Report, Tetrapturus pfleuger Largest European Lobster since 1931 Featured Species: Sunfish, Mola mola New Book: Collins Complete Guide to British Coastal Wildlife Paul Sterry and Andrew Cleave Coastal Feature: Dursey Island, County Cork Underlined text links to other information sites including the button for Parlour Aquariums on seashore life, aquariums, old books etc. In a few examples of facebook links special permissions may be required from the copyright holder. MARINE LIFE NEWS BULLETIN TORPEDO INDEXhttp://www.glaucus.org.uk/Torpedo2.htm Cheers Andy Horton.glaucus@hotmail.com><< ( ( ( ' >British Marine Life Study Society (formed 6 June 1990)http://www.glaucus.org.uk/----------------------------------------------------------------------Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Yahoo GroupNew Group: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Glaucus New Image Uploading Service:http://www.flickr.com/groups/glaucus/Marine Fish Gallery (NE Atlantic)http://www.flickr.com/photos/shoreham/galleries/72157622350060767><< ( ( ( ' >

Becky Hitchin Some bits for the news pages: 14th August - Mola mola and dolphin seen at Dover (sunfish in the harbour itself). Also sighting of basking shark off Thanet early August.

Tim Ho Newly Hatched?

Patty Woo Mysid shrimps

Ruby Ann Balio small critters seems to be an Idiomysis... http://vimeo.com/58819470

Christian Jansen Yep....Idiomysis

Penn Dls awesome timing.

Made Sudata Beby mola mola

Janine Baker I agree with the above that they are Idiomysis sea bees. Very cute!

Tim Ho thanks guys :) Ruby that was a real cute video...

Alex Tattersall It has come to our attention that a Facebook page, Mola Mola, has been taking UW images and publishing them with no credit to the author. In certain cases it looks like the copyrights have actually been removed. A number of photographers have complained but have now had their comments removed from the site and are now unable to post their opinions. The site is run by Gonzalo Galan, please boycott or express your concerns to him.

Jonny Simpson-Lee Thanks chum!!! Filth!!!!

John Bantin Molo Mola? Is that a FB site for dentists? Don't go there. It just gives more traffic.

Alex Tattersall Haha

Robert White looks like SOME images have been removed. Good work those who've persisted!

Len Deeley Trying to find the site but search mola mola comes up with a cafe! Where can I find it? Wanna make sure my images are not on it.

Theresa Cloake https://www.facebook.com/MolaMolaDivers

David Henshaw Alex, how do you know his name - many thanks for the posting.

Alex Tattersall Because I'm a nosy busy body :)

Alex Tattersall It has come to our attention that a Facebook page, Mola Mola, has been taking UW images and publishing them with no credit to the author. In certain cases it looks like the copyrights have actually been removed. A number of photographers have complained but have now had their comments removed from the site and are now unable to post their opinions. The site is run by Gonzalo Galan, please boycott or express your concerns to him.

Karine Maurice well done Alex

Patrick Ong Thanks Alex for bringing this out... otherwise no one will notice and is UNFAIR and ridiculous to the Author. Mola Mola maybe is time you should REMOVE your own page...

Alistair Merrifield Statement on the Mola Mola FB website: translated by Bing: Due to some comments on the images that we publish, we would like to clarify some points:-in Mola Mola Divers, we do not retocamos or manipulate any image to remove names of photographers or image rights. -All photos published on our wall are taken from internet and approximately 50% of these contain credits in the 1st comment. Uncredited photos are because either they did not have or could not access them. -MolaMola Divers never aims to dupe their followers photos belong to us or are own production - MolaMola Divers is not a non-profit organization, does business with photos here published, nor makes use of them in bad faith. -MolaMola Divers formed by marine biologists and professional divers who share the same objectives of his followers: appreciate and share the beauty and importance of marine life through images of everyone who makes a great effort to photograph these environments. -If these images help even a little to generate more awareness on the preservation of the oceans, this diffusion is beneficial for all. -Invite photographers and people in general to help us with the task spread the beauty of the oceans through images if you are a photographer and would like to share your work through MolaMola Divers, we will appreciate much, send us your copyright or web site to publish it along with the picture. If your photo is published and do not want to share it, let us know and we will withdraw immediately.

Alistair Merrifield .... and one comment by a "liker" of the page: "people need to stop being so petty over a picture , if you dont want people to see your pictures then dont take any i love mola mola"....

Nayan Savla could you post a link to their page or site. i am not able to find it. if we report abuse to Facebook as infringing on copyright they might be able to shut the page.

Alistair Merrifield You can probably only report it if your own image is being abused: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/MolaMolaDivers

Ken Thongpila Totally agree with all that... All uw photographers are getting together now and try to send messages to this site and FB... and we still keep doing it until they get the message and do the right things... THEY JUST CAN'T CROP OUR COPYRIGHT OUT AND LOADED AS THEY WORK!!! One thing very strange... the LIKEs are going up like 300+ within 24 hours... and lots of them are photographers! I still don't understand.... Seriously!

Alistair Merrifield Probably so the photographers can keep tabs on what images the group is posting.

Ken Thongpila Sorry guys! Normally I HATED politic and Don't want any discuss about politic on the group... BUT ... this time exceptional as it concern to every one RIGHT!!!

Ken Thongpila Our group didn't have effect much as we don't have "Gonzalo Galan" on our members... LUCKY :-)

Alistair Merrifield Well, he has deleted my comment on the site and locked me off from futher comments. (Not that I really care!).

Alex Tattersall Sad that he has chosen to delete all of the comments of all the photographers that he has taken from, just like nothing ever happened!

Mona Dienhart This is just crazy, well I might still be able to post there, let's see

Karine Maurice Yes Alex and that means he doesn't want to tell the truth

Claudia Weber-Gebert I could still post on their discussion - but a lot of comments from this morning are deleted! That's really sad, because I think that they have good intentions!

Karine Maurice unfortunately good intentions doesn't go well with bad behaviour

Alex Tattersall They just don't think they have done anything wrong!

Chris Spence Not good at all! And as Alistair said a lot of comments from people on the site saying we shouldn't be so precious aren't helping because they don't really understand the issue. I don't always put a copyright on my photos but now I think it will be a must. Good work on this Alex!

Lawrence Alex Wu Hi Alex Tattersall...I've seen some other photos that I know belong to others too...here's a link to another one but I can't remember who's it is. All I know is that it was awarded a few years ago. This is really attritional what this page is doing!! ...hope none of mine are up there!! Http://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=309008715844883&id=129009307178159&set=a.129277410484682.33599.129009307178159&refid=20&_ft_=fbid.309008729178215

Karl Fehlauer Yeah it isn't good - if they asked then it wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately none oif my stuff is worth stealing so it has never affected me ;-(

Karine Maurice Lawrence Alex Wu: the link doesn't work

Claudia Weber-Gebert the comments of Alistair are deleted....unfortunately :-(

Alistair Merrifield Exactly the same for me. I put a rational considerate arguement on his page saying why we should get credit and got FB to remove my pix. In return, he deleted my comments and blocked me. he said 50% of his pics didn't have credits or permission (because he couldn't get it). That is actually 200 photos!

Alistair Merrifield It's not like we are mean people who are precious about our photos.... we just want acknowledgement!

Alistair Merrifield And 192 photos remaining from 400.... good work, chaps!

María Eugenia Suárez Puedo proponer que crees una página exclusiva para nudibranquios donde se pongan los nombres/especies? Me encantaría que se describiera siempre la fauna. Muchísimas gracias. Can I propose you create a page only for nudibranch where the name/species of them are shown? I'd love the fauna were always discribed. Many, many thanks.

María Eugenia Suárez Mola mola me ha propuesto esta página: www.facebook.com/groups/nudibranquios/

Alex Tattersall It has come to our attention that a Facebook page, Mola Mola, has been taking UW images and publishing them with no credit to the author. In certain cases it looks like the copyrights have actually been removed. A number of photographers have complained but have now had their comments removed from the site and are now unable to post their opinions. The site is run by Gonzalo Galan, please boycott or express your concerns to him.

Jean Tresfon See one of there recent uncredited images belongs to Drew Wong...

Jean Tresfon Also just posted a very polite message requesting that they ask for and credit all pictures used, and of course my comment was removed...

Alex Tattersall That is the issue really, if you have made a mistake obliviously then you can apologise and address this issue. But to delete the comments of the photographers whose photos you have used uncredited is just too much.

Amos Nachoum I was informed by few great friends online - that they have seen my recently posted image of the Penguins facing a leopard seal with open jaws...and copyright symbol, my name and the caption were removed - all done by the site name Mola Mola - can we or as many as we can concern photographer - send these guys at Mola Mola that we are aware of their wrong doing and request them to stop and give credit to every image??? Thank you

Jean Tresfon Amos suggest you go the same route as Drew... Report the matter to FB as IP Theft...

Henry Jager "Manta Shape" Oly E-5, Fisheye, 1/250s f/22, ISO 640 - no strobes

Evie Go Nice silhouette!

Yos Amerta nice shot . . .

Christian Nielsen Great shot on one of my favourite divesites :-) Look forward to return in April

Stefan GlobeDiver Great Shot! :-) More: http://www.globediver.ch/index.php?id=taucherlebnisse_kubu_indah_bali

Tay Tousey Beautiful silhouette with God's raise very nice!

Richard Wylie Great shot Henry!!

Claudia Weber-Gebert like!

Olivier Notz Wunderschön...

Suzan Meldonian beautiful shot, when is the best time to go here? is there a season?

Christian Nielsen Hi Suzan, thet are there all year. I would say 90 percent chance. Waves Can make a trip impossible. Cold water around July till October, but chance of mola mola. We go there mid April. I have very Good experiences around full moon in April and May. Lembongan is a great place and I can recommend World Diving.

Yau Chiam Thanks for sharing!!!