LA JOLLA — Three divers captured rare footage of a mola mola, the heaviest known bony fish in the world, off the coast of La Jolla Sunday. “I’ve been diving for a while and I’ve never seen one this close to shore,” said diver Julie Lorenzen, education coordinator at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The sighting took place near the southern wall of the Marine Room Canyon, about 34 feet from the surface. The mola mola, also known as an ocean sunfish, has an average adult weight of more than 2,000 pounds, however the two seen Sunday were babies — about two feet long. “Most molas are about 25 feet,” said Jim Kinane, who was with Lorenzen and diver Michael Bear when the sighting happened. Kinane is an IT specialist for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla. Bear was able to catch video footage of the molas on a wrist-mounted high definition underwater camera. Bear’s footage can be viewed on his blog, www.raptureofthedeep.org.








