Mola mola mania

SHARK!...or not.
From Wikipedia Commons

The past 12 months has been a terrible period for shark bites in Australia; five fatal incidents including the recent tragic death of a Japanese national at Ballina, northern NSW. When several bites occur within a relatively short time period, the inevitable response by the media and general public is to ask whether sharks are becoming more abundant, and/or encroaching on popular swimming or surfing beaches more often than they have in recent decades. 

Most shark scientists agree that the limited available data suggest neither, and that social factors (e.g. more people swimming, surfing and fishing in coastal areas) are the key to explaining trends in the number of interactions we have with sharks - it seems pretty logical that there will be more reported shark encounters if there are more of us in the water, taking photos and video and sharing on social media. However, it is understandable that John Citizen might get the impression that sharks are in fact becoming more common along our coasts. The Australian media seem to love nothing more than to reproduce clips of huge white sharks circling the boats of surprised fishermen. Facebook and Youtube are full of them, and they increasingly appear on news websites.

Over the past few weeks, a friend of mine from the University of New South Wales (PhD candidate Derrick Cruz) drew my attention to media reports of two separate encounters (in the Sydney Morning Herald and NBN News) with “huge white sharks” swimming near boats off Newcastle, New South Wales, with associated video footage. These sharks were “4-5 m long”, had “massive dorsal fins” and were “pretty scary”. 

They were also, undoubtedly, ocean sunfish. 


Not a shark: Video from Sydney Morning Herald media site

An Ocean sunfish (Mola mola)
Most definitely not a shark.
By U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Ocean sunfish (Mola mola) are the world’s largest bony fish (specimens exceeding 1000 kg are relatively common), and can be found from Ireland to Japan and much of Australia. Unlike white sharks, sunfish have an almost circular body shape (pictured), and feed mainly on jellyfish and other invertebrates. 

I am currently researching ocean sunfish in Japan, and while I may be in a better position to spot one in a video than most people, many of my colleagues and non-scientist friends also noticed some glaring inconsistencies in these videos of “white sharks”.

I can understand how getting a surprising and fleeting visit from a big animal with a big dorsal fin in an area frequented by white sharks might make you think you just had an encounter with one of the ocean’s most dangerous top predators. A lot of people don’t know much about ocean sunfish, and perhaps this is partly because an encounter with a big lazy jellyfish eater isn’t front page news. In effect, what we are seeing is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy – we are so often told about shark encounters by the media that we start seeing sharks even when they aren’t there. Sure, a couple of misidentified sunfish isn’t a sure sign of impending social anarchy, but I think it is a good example of how the Australia media could do a better job of presenting shark facts to the Australian public. 

Just a few weeks ago, the Australian Government’s chief white shark scientist, Dr Barry Bruce, cautioned a Today Show interviewer against using provocative terms like “stalking”, “lurking” and “menacing” when talking about sharks that approach popular beaches. Like erroneous sunfish reports, emotive language used in the media can promote misconceptions about shark abundances and behavior, and this in turn, influences public opinion about how we should manage shark populations and any associated threats.

Reporting an ocean sunfish as a white shark is a result of poor fact checking, and of course a simple mistake. That said, the current sociopolitical sensitivities associated with State Government shark culling programs ought to warrant a higher degree of journalistic rigor when reporting on shark encounters. 

It’s time to nip this Mola mola mania in the bud.