The Indo-Pacific blue marlin (''Makaira mazara'') is a species of

marlin Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes about 10 species. A marlin has an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long, rigid dorsal fin which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to deri ...

belonging to the family Istiophoridae.

Taxonomy

''Makaira mazara'' is closely related to, and usually considered conspecific with, the

Atlantic blue marlin The Atlantic blue marlin (''Makaira nigricans'') is a species of marlin endemic to the Atlantic Ocean. It is closely related to, and usually considered conspecific with, the Indo-Pacific blue marlin, then simply called blue marlin. Some authori ...

, then simply called blue marlin. The classification of the Indo-Pacific blue marlin (''M. mazara'') and the Atlantic blue marlin (''M. nigricans'') as separate species is under debate. Genetic data suggest, although the two groups are isolated from each other, that they are both the same species, with the only genetic exchange occurring when Indo-Pacific blue marlin migrate to and contribute genes to the Atlantic population. A separate study by V. P. Buonaccorsi, J. R. Mcdowell, and Graves indicated that both Indo-Pacific and Atlantic show "striking

phylogeographic Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the past to present geographic distributions of genealogical lineages. This is accomplished by considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of ge ...

partitioning" of

mitochondrial A mitochondrion (; ) is an organelle found in the cells of most Eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is use ...

and

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. ...

loci. . Some authorities still consider them both distinct.

Distribution and habitat

This species can be found throughout the tropical and sub-tropical waters of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

s. Warm currents such as the

Agulhas Current The Agulhas Current () is the western boundary current of the southwest Indian Ocean. It flows south along the east coast of Africa from 27°S to 40°S. It is narrow, swift and strong. It is suggested that it is the largest western boundary curren ...

in the western Indian Ocean have a major influence on their seasonal distribution. It is common in equatorial waters, but it is not usually seen close to islands and coral reefs. It is considered the most tropical billfish species.Izumi Nakamura tp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/ac480e/ac480e06.pdf Billfishes of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of marlins, sailfishes, spearfishes and swordfishes known to dateFAO species catalogue. Vol.5.

Description

''Makaira mazara'' can reach a maximum length of , but the average is around . It can reach a weight of about . The body is elongated but it is not very compressed, with two

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

s and two

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

s. The dorsal fins have a total of 40 to 45 soft rays, while the anal fins have 18 to 24 soft rays. The pectoral fins, which have 21 to 23 rays, are falcate and flexible, and can be drawn in to the sides of the body. The nape is highly elevated. The upper jaw forms a robust but not very long beak, round in cross section. The

caudal peduncle Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

shows strong double keels on each side. The body color is blue-black dorsally and silvery white ventrally, sometimes with light blue vertical stripes.

Biology

Spawning takes place during summer in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In the southern hemisphere, spawning probably occurs around French Polynesia. ''Makaira mazara'' is a highly migratory species. These marlins use their bill for inflicting wounds on their prey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indo-Pacific blue marlin Makaira Sport fish Fish described in 1901 Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by John Otterbein Snyder