For much of his life, Patrick Webster has slipped into a wetsuit, strapped on his elaborate camera system and dove into the world’s oceans from Antarctica to Monterey to capture images of underwater creatures. But of all the creatures that have appeared before his lens, nothing thrills Webster more than his encounters with the strange and mysterious Mola mola — or sunfish.
“Ever since I started scuba diving, seeing a sunfish is always a dream and a highlight on every dive,” Webster said on Monterey’s San Carlos beach.
Webster has captured hundreds of images and videos of Mola mola, one of the ocean’s most peculiar looking fish. It looks like a giant round head with a couple fins and no tail.
“In fact, that’s its name in German is schwimmender kopf, which is swimming head,” Webster said.
The sunfish is among the world’s largest bony fish, weighing as much as 2,500 pounds. Often when the non-diving public encounters one, it’s resting at the ocean surface flapping one of its fins in the air while catching some rays. Webster said because of those superficial observations, the fish have earned something of a lowly reputation.
“Hating sunfish is an entire wing of the internet. It’s the dumbest fish. It doesn’t know how to swim. It doesn’t know how to protect itself. It’s this oceanic moron,’” Webster said, ticking off the common misconceptions. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Webster, who dives frequently in Monterey Bay, has devoted a chunk of his career to setting the record straight about sunfish. He shares his photos and videos and has become a self-appointed ambassador for the fish — earning him the nicknames Underwater Pat, Mola Guy and the Mola-garch. His campaign of public enlightenment swings into high gear in fall and winter when sunfish descend on Monterey Bay.
“When you dive with a sunfish, it’s one of the most expressive fish,” Webster said. “They’re very curious. They come right over to you.”
Unfortunately for the fish, those also excited to see them are sea lions, which will chew off their fins and leave their lifeless bodies drifting in the surf. It’s a heartbreaking sight for Webster, who has captured such scenes.
Webster easily qualifies for Mola mola’s No. 1 super fan. As he dug through his car, he produced a Mola mola stuffed animal, a Mola mola beach towel, a Mola mola sculpture, a Mola mola eraser, a Mola mola shaped cutout covered in wine corks, and a sourdough bread he baked himself in the shape of a Mola mola, with poppy seeds for eyes.
The back of his car is also covered in Mola mola stickers he designed in 2014 and are now the globally recognized official dive flag of Monterey Bay.
“Mola mola is probably the greatest ocean ambassador for what the ocean life can be if it’s not flashy and has its own shark week to celebrate it,” Webster said.
It was actually a sort of shark encounter that introduced Webster to the Mola mola. He was working at the Monterey Bay Aquarium at a time when the aquarium famously had a juvenile white shark on display.
“Ninety-percent of the questions were, ’Cool shark. What the heck is that thing?’” Webster remembered. “And then the Mola would be swimming by. ‘Yeah, who’s charismatic now?’”
Webster said this past year of dives has marked his most successful at spotting rare Mola mola in Monterey Bay. He recently encountered a massive Mola tecta — aka the hoodwinker sunfish on a dive near the Monterey Bay Aquarium — considered by some to be the holy grail of Mola mola. A selfie video Webster shot of the encounter shows him dwarfed by the giant fish as he yelled “Oh my God!” — audible through his scuba gear and above the din of bubbles.
“Seven feet, maybe 500 pounds of pure oceanic wonder,” Webster said. “I’m going to be riding that high the rest of my photo career.”
With life sometimes as turbulent as the tides, Webster said he often seeks solace beneath the ocean surface.
“I go on a dive and the ocean almost always shows me something that sets me right and says you’re meant to be underwater and taking these photos,” he said.
And if there happens to be a Mola mola to witness on said dive, that just further fills his emotional tank, leaving him inspired about the world above and below the ocean surface.
“The real opinion about sunfish is you either love Molas or you’re wrong,” Webster said.
