Ocean sunfish don’t have “babies” in the live-birth sense; instead, a female can release up to about 300 million eggs at once. Because fertilization happens outside the body, only some of those eggs will ever develop into young fish.

Quick scoop

  • A single female ocean sunfish may produce around 300 million eggs in one spawning event.
  • The exact number of surviving babies is unknown because ocean sunfish use external fertilization.
  • So the best simple answer is: millions of potential babies, not a small litter.

Why the number is so huge

Ocean sunfish release eggs into the water, and males fertilize them externally, which means most eggs never make it to adulthood. That’s why nature offsets the low survival rate with an enormous number of eggs.

Tiny note

Some sources mention even larger counts of eggs at different stages, but the commonly cited figure for a female sunfish is about 300 million eggs.

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