ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biology
Integrative taxonomic evidence confirms the presence of Mola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839) in Indian waters
Subal Kumar Roul 1
Jeena Nikarthil Sidhick 1
Ajay Dayaram Nakhawa 1
BISWAJIT PANDA 2
Sajeela Kavungal Abdulkhadar 1
Smrutirekha Acharya 3
Anil Mohapatra 3
1. Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR), Kochi, India
2. Department of Zoology, College of Basic Science and Humanities, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Baramunda, Bhubaneswar, Odisha – 751 003, India, Bhubaneswar, India
3. Estuarine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Gopalpur-on-Sea, Ganjam, Odisha – 761 002, India, Gopalpur, India
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Abstract
Taxonomic study of ocean sunfishes is marked by a protracted and complex history due to their morphological similarity. Presently, the genus Mola includes three valid species: M. tecta, M. alexandrini, and M. mola, following the recent synonymisation of M. ramsayi with M. alexandrini based on a comprehensive revision of the genus, which confirmed the latter's widespread distribution across the world's oceans. However, in Indian waters, ocean sunfishes (Mola spp.) have been reported under the names M. ramsayi, M. mola, and M. alexandrini. In the absence of a detailed taxonomic study and limited reference sequences of the Indian Mola in the public databases, current study aimed to assess the taxonomy of the genus Mola using an integrative approach, based on joint examination of morphological, anatomical, and genetic traits. Based on a thorough review of the literature, detailed morphological comparisons of fresh specimens collected from the east and west coasts of India during 2017-2023 with congeners, and molecular characterization using two mitochondrial regions (D-loop and COI), the present study confirms that specimens from the Indian EEZ belong to M. alexandrini and had previously been misidentified as M. mola or M. ramsayi. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis revealed well-supported clades (bootstrap values ~70% and above), with the specimens clustering consistently with M. alexandrini. This study suggests that M. mola is either absent from Indian waters or its occurrence remains doubtful. Our findings further highlight the importance of an integrative taxonomic approach for a better understanding of the zoogeographies of enigmatic genera such as Mola.
Summary
Keywords
Indian coast, Integrative taxonomy, Mola alexandrini, Molidae, Ocean sunfish
Received
29 January 2026
Accepted
02 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Roul, Sidhick, Nakhawa, PANDA, Abdulkhadar, Acharya and Mohapatra. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Subal Kumar Roul
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