The striped marlin (''Kajikia audax'') 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 ...

found in tropical to temperate

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

oceans not far from the surface. It is a desirable commercial and

game fish Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish pursued by recreational anglers, and can be freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, or released after capture. Some game fish are also targeted commerciall ...

. The striped marlin is a predator that hunts during the day in the top 100 m or so of the water column, often near the surface. One of their chief prey is sardines.

Description

The Striped Marlin consists of 42-48 rays on its tall first dorsal fin that is almost the same or longer than its body depth while the second dorsal fin is much smaller. They have torpedo-like and compressed bodies. They have around 10-20 clear, visible bluish stripes on the sides of their bodies even after death. The color of their bodies is dark blue or black above and silvery-white on the bottom. Striped Marlin has an average length of and a maximum length of and can weight up to .

Life Cycle

Striped Marlin reached

sexual maturity Sexual maturity is the capability of an organism to reproduce. In humans it might be considered synonymous with adulthood, but here puberty is the name for the process of biological sexual maturation, while adulthood is based on cultural definitio ...

at a age of 1-2 years or for males and 1.5-2.5 years or for females. They can live up to at least 10 years.

Diet

The Striped marlin is a top predator that mainly feeds on a wide range of fish, such as

Sardine "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...

Mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

, small

Tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

Mahi-Mahi The mahi-mahi () or common dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus'') is a surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore temperate, tropical, and subtropical waters worldwide. Also widely called dorado (not to be confused with ''Salminus brasi ...

and

Cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head ...

. One such study off the coast of Mexico has found that it mostly feeds on schooling fish such as

Chub mackerel The chub mackerel, Pacific mackerel, or Pacific chub mackerel (''Scomber japonicus'') is a species of fish in the tuna and mackerel family, Scombridae. This species of mackerel closely resembles the Atlantic chub mackerel. Characteristics The chu ...

Etrumeus sadina ''Etrumeus sadina'', the red-eye round herring, is a species of fish belonging to the family Dussumieriidae, a family notable for their rounded bellies. Description The red-eye round herring has a very slim rounded body. Its anal and pelvic fi ...

and

Sardinops caeruleus ''Sardinops'' is a monotypic genus of sardines of the family Clupeidae. The only member of the genus is ''Sardinops sagax''. It is found in the Indo-Pacific and East Pacific oceans. Its length is up to . It has numerous common or vernacular names ...

and

Squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

, mostly the

Jumbo Squid The Humboldt squid (''Dosidicus gigas''), also known as jumbo squid or jumbo flying squid (EN), and Pota in Peru or Jibia in Chile (ES) is a large, predatory squid living in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the only known species of the genus ''D ...

, .

Sustainable consumption

In 2010, Greenpeace International added the striped marlin to its red seafood list. Greenpeace International Seafood Red list
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Fisheries

Description

Life Cycle

Diet

Sustainable consumption

Fisheries

References

Further reading