Makaira nigricans
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Istiophoridae (Billfishes)
Makaira
Makaira nigricans (Blue Marlin)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
First dorsal fin long and relatively low; nape highly elevated; reticulated lateral line; rostrum very long, slender, and round in cross section; palatine with teeth resembling denticles; pectoral fin longer than pelvic fin, with 19 to 22 rays, and depressible to side of body; first dorsal fin with 41 to 43 rays, some unsegmented and unbranched; second dorsal fin short, with concave margin and 6 or 7 rays; pelvic fin with poorly developed membrane; first anal fin pointed anteriorly, with concave margin and 13 to 15 rays; second anal fin with 6 or 7 rays; caudal peduncle compressed with poorly developed notch mid-dorsally and midventrally; scales elongate and thick, bearing one to three points; lateral line forms network of loops and polygons, becoming embedded in skin with growth; vertebrae number 24: 11 precaudal and 13 caudal; gas bladder present, made up of numerous bubblelike chambers.
Dark bluish black dorsally and silvery white ventrally; first dorsal fin membrane black or dark blue; other fins brownish black, occasionally tinged with dark blue.
Distribution
Southern Nova Scotian banks, Gulf of Maine, and Bermuda to southern Brazil, including oceanic waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Oceanic waters of the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate Atlantic Ocean, usually found in or above the thermocline at temperatures ranging from 22°C–31°C.
Biology
Pelagic ray-finned fishes, such as Pseudoscopelus spp., Coryphaena spp., Auxis spp., and other scombrids.
450 cm TL
An oceanic species. Water color affects its occurrence, at least in the northern Gulf of Mexico, where the fish show preference for blue water. Rarely gathers in schools and usually found as scattered single individuals. Feeds mainly on fishes but also preys on octopods and squids. Marketed fresh or frozen (Ref. 43). Feeding takes place during daytime. Maturity reached at about 80 cm in males and 50 cm in females (Ref. 36731). Females grow larger (Ref. 4770). Recent study indicates maximum age close to 20 years using a series of deductions in the ¹⁴C dating method (Ref. 120707).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Subripe ova are opaque, white to yellow, and 0.3 to 0.5 mm in diameter. Transparent spherical eggs flowing out of a ripe ovary measured 1 mm in diameter.
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable (VU), assessed 2021-05-10. Resilience: Low (K=0.3-1.5; tmax=20; Fec>10,000).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish.
References
Krumholtz and de Sylva 1958
Erdman 1968
Mather et al. 1972
Rivas 1975
Heemstra 1986p
Nakamura 1985
Nakamura 1986b
Nakamura 2002b
Robins and Ray 1986
Scott and Scott 1988
Boschung 1992
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Nakamura, I. (1985) FAO species catalogue. Vol. 5. Billfishes of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of marlins, sailfishes, spearfishes and swordfishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(5):65p. Rome: FAO.
Randall, J.E. (1995) Coastal fishes of Oman. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. 439 p.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Júnior, T.V., C.M. Vooren and R.P. Lessa (2004) Feeding habits of four species of Istiophoridae (Piscea: Perciformes) from northeastern Brazil. Environ. Biol. Fishes 70:293-304.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
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