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Live Coloration and Schooling Behavior of Juvenile Sharptail Mola, Masturus lanceolatus (Tetraodontiformes: Molidae), Off South Florida

Shanthi Hegde1, James C. Tyler2, Walt Stearns3, and Katherine E. Bemis4,*

1Lambert High School, Suwanee, GA 30024. 2Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. 20560. 3Ocean Arts Inc., FL 33410. 4NOAA National Systematics Laboratory, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. 20560. *Corresponding author.

Southeastern Naturalist,Volume 20, Issue 4 (2021): N102–N107

Abstract
We present the first published in-situ photographs of a juvenile Masturus lanceolatus (Sharptail Mola). The photographed individual, about 76 mm TL, was one of 13–15 Sharptail Mola observed schooling together during a blackwater SCUBA dive at night off the coast of Florida near Palm Beach on 25 February 2021. The photographed individual was metallic blue dorsally, fading to a more silver color ventrally, with dark brown spots. The school of Sharptail Mola was 3–9 m below the surface of the water over a bottom depth of 198 m. Individuals were 2–5 body lengths apart and swam rapidly using synchronous side-to-side dorsal and anal fin flexures. We compare the photographed specimen to 2 literature records of juvenile Sharptail Mola from waters off Florida.

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