White Marlin
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The white marlin (''Kajikia albida''), also known as Atlantic white marlin, marlin, skilligalee, is a species of billfish that lives in the epipelagic zone of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean. They are found between the latitudes of 45° N and 45° S in waters deeper than 100 m. Even though white marlin are found in bodies of water that are deeper than 100 m they tend to stay near the surface. White marlin have been found near banks, shoals, and canyons, but they are not limited to those locations.Braun, C., Kaplan, M., Horodysky, A., Llopiz, J. 2015. Satellite telemetry reveals physical processes driving billfish behavior. Animal Biotelemetry. They prefer warm surface temperatures greater than 22 °C.Hoolihan, J. 2013. White Marlin. International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. 2.1.7


Identification

White marlin are commonly misidentified as
roundscale spearfish The roundscale spearfish (''Tetrapturus georgii'') is a species of marlin native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Portugal to Madeira, the Canary Islands to northern Africa and the western Mediterranean Sea to Sicily (man) it, Sicilian ...
(''Tetrapturus georgii''). This likely caused a miscount of the population size of white marlin and roundscale spearfish before they were determined genetically different in 2001. Differentiation between the two species can be done with close external examination. As described in the name, roundscale spearfish have a broadband, round anterior end of their scales. White marlin scales are more rigid and rounded on the posterior region of the scale. Another way to identify between the two species without doing a genetic test is by looking at the distance between the anal opening and the anal fin. In roundscale spearfish, the anal opening is further way from the anal fin (greater than half the length of the anal fin) than it is in the white marlin.Collette, B.B., McDowell, J.R. and Graves, J.E. (2006). ''Phylogeny of Recent billfishes (Xiphioidei)''. Bull. Mar. Sci. 79(3): 455-468.


Taxonomy and evolution

In 1860,
Felipe Poey Felipe Poey (May 26, 1799 – January 28, 1891) was a Cuban zoologist. Biography Poey was born in Havana, the son of French and Spanish parents. He spent several years (1804 to 1807) of his life in Pau then studied law in Madrid. He became a ...
gave the white marlin the name ''Tetrapturus albidus''. This classification places the species in the same genus as shortbill spearfish, Mediterranean spearfish, roundscale spearfish, and longbill spearfish. Researchers have identified fossils from the genus ''Tetrapturus'' dating back to the Langhian Age 15 million years ago (Mya). Extinct ancestors, such as species from the genus '' Palaeorhynchus'' date to as early as 56 Mya. ''Tetrapturus albidus'' was the accepted name for white marlin until 2006. At this time, Collette and his colleagues' genetic testing suggested that white marlin and Indo-Pacific striped marlin should be classified in the genus ''Kajikia''.White Marlin Biological Review Team. 2007. Atlantic White Marlin Status Review. Report to National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Regional Office, United States. 88. Today, ''Kajikia albida'' and its close relative ''
Kajikia audax The striped marlin (''Kajikia audax'') is a species of marlin found in tropical to temperate Indo-Pacific oceans not far from the surface. It is a desirable commercial and game fish. The striped marlin is a predator that hunts during the day in ...
'' (striped marlin) have been scientifically determined to be genetically distinct from the species in the genus ''
Tetrapturus ''Tetrapturus'' is a genus of marlins commonly called spearfish, found in tropical and subtropical oceans throughout the world. Some are popular sport fish in big-game fishing. Species There are currently four recognized species in this genus: * ...
''.


Appearance and anatomy

White marlin are mid-sized billfish with a bill that is round in cross section, and distinctly forked
caudal 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 ...
. Their body structure is designed for fast swimming with a long, streamlined appearance. The length of ''K. albida'' is measured from the lower jaw to the fork of the tail (lower-jaw fork length; LJFL). The largest white marlin reported was 2.8 m (9.2 ft) LJFL and weighed over 82 kg (181 lb). The coloring of white marlin is used as
countershading Countershading, or Thayer's law, is a method of camouflage in which an animal's coloration is darker on the top or upper side and lighter on the underside of the body. This pattern is found in many species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, and ...
, with a dark blue dorsal side and a dirty white ventral side.Nakamura, I. (1985). Billfishes of the world: an annotated and illustrated catalogue of marlins, sailfishes, spearfishes and swordfishes known to date. Prepared by Izumi Nakamura. Rome: United Nations Development Program: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Though all white marlin have the same coloring pattern, they are sexually dimorphic, with the females usually larger. One of the most noticeable features of white marlin is the dorsal fin, which extends along the majority of the dorsal portion of its body. The dorsal fin consists of typically 28 to 46 rays. These rays make up a fin tall and rounded in the anterior, but quickly levels off and then decreases as it extends to the posterior. Behind the large primary dorsal fin is the secondary dorsal fin, which is made up of five to six rays. White marlin have a set of similar pectoral fins and pelvic fins. These two sets of fin are rounded and wide at the tip. They also have two anal fins which can be used for identification between species. The
lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...
on this species is prominent, with a hump above the pectoral fin and extends the length of the fish toward the caudal fin. Internally, white marlin do not have a swim bladder, but instead have small, bubble-shaped chambers that act as a swim bladder. Similarly to most vertebrates, they have symmetrical gonads. Unlike other marine fish, white marlin do not have gill rakers which are involved in suspension feeding. White marlin do have small but sharp teeth that are used when eating fish 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 ...
s.


Distribution

White marlin are found throughout warmer waters of the Atlantic between 45°N to 45°S, it is found in the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
,
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
, and
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
, although records from the Mediterranean Sea and from as far north as
Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
, France, appear to refer to
vagrants Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
.


Feeding and diet

White marlin are near the top of the food chain and will consume any prey they can find that is manageable for their size. Schooling
flyingfish The Exocoetidae are a family of marine fish in the order Beloniformes class Actinopterygii, known colloquially as flying fish or flying cod. About 64 species are grouped in seven to nine genera. While they cannot fly in the same way a bird ...
, 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 brasil ...
(dolphinfish, dorado), 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 ...
are the preferred prey of white marlin. They sometime forage for food with help of other predators. White marlin usually keep to themselves, but associate with other apex predators to increase the efficiency of foraging. They also obtain food is by diving down in a V- or U- shaped
parabola In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exactly the same curves. One descript ...
to about 200 m in search of food that is not at the surface. To survive in these lower temperatures and darker environments, white marlin have larger eyes and a way to selectively warm their eye and brain tissue.


Lifecycle and migration

The lifecycle of ''K. albida'' begins with a large spawning in warm tropical waters near the equator. Each female can lay 190,000 to 586,000 eggs. The Gulf of Mexico,
Mona Passage The Mona Passage ( es, Canal de la Mona) is a strait that separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The Mona Passage connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and is an important shipping route between the Atlantic and the Panama ...
, Southwest Bermuda, and northwest Grand Bahama Island are a few locations that have been located as prime spawning ground for white marlin. They return to the warm, shallow, equatorial waters each year to spawn. Growth of white marlin is very rapid, with males reaching sexual maturity at only 153.2 cm LJFL and females becoming sexually mature at 189.9 cm LJFL. The lifespan of white marlin has been identified as 15 or more years. White marlin are ram ventilators, which means they have to be constantly moving to breathe. Many have made long transatlantic journeys. One white marlin resurfaced 6,517 km (4,083 miles) from where it was tagged 474 days later.


Fishing and conservation

Prior to 2001, roundscale spearfish and white marlin were identified as the same species. Researchers from
Nova Southeastern University Nova Southeastern University (NSU or, informally, Nova) is a private nonprofit research university with its main campus in Davie, Florida. The university consists of 14 total colleges, centers, and schools offering over 150 programs of study. ...
's
Guy Harvey Research Institute Guy Harvey (born 16 September 1955) is a Jamaican marine wildlife artist and conservationist. His depictions of sealife, especially of sportfish such as marlin, are popular with sportfishermen and have been reproduced in prints, posters, T- ...
, Dania Beach, Florida, first discovered that these two species were significantly different in 2001 through genetic tests. Before this discovery. the two species made up a population that was of least concern to the IUCN. Placement into the endangered species list was not established until 2007, when the population numbers had already dropped below easily recoverable levels.Schrope, M. 2013. Fishy numbers. for white marlin stocks. ''Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America'', ''110'' (11), 4151-4153. White marlin fishing is a multimillion-dollar organization in well-developed countries. Restrictions are in place to limit the size of fish that can be taken, but the angling process can be devastating to fish. The time spent on the hook, outside handling, dehooking, and releasing a white marlin exhaust enough energy that up to 32% of the time, the marlin cannot maintain buoyancy in the water. When fishing for any billfish, use of a circle hook, which can be dehooked more quickly than other hooks, is recommended. In the U.S. Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean waters, the fish is required by federal regulations to be kept in the water, boatside, to maximize its chances of surviving after release.
/ref> Research indicates that removing a billfish from the water may increase their risk of death after release by ~30 percent (research ongoing). About 90% of the annual catch is caught accidentally in
bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...
from fishing around the world. Many billfish are caught in gillnets or on longline hooks that were meant to catch other fish species. Since these hooks and nets are set for long periods of time, white marlin become food to sharks, pilot whales, and killer whales. In response to the decrease in white marlin, marine life agencies have developed acts and plans such as the Atlantic Tunas Conservation Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to protect vulnerable species. The U.S. Fishery Management plan for the Atlantic billfish has, as an objective, to educate and increase knowledge about billfish and their roles in the ecosystem. In the United States, billfishing is reserved for recreational fishing only.


Additional information

Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic resort town in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 United States cens ...
, is known as the White Marlin Capital of the World. The city hosts the annual White Marlin Open, a big-game tournament which attracts anglers from all over the world, and which frequently pays out over a million dollars to the winning team. The tournament encourages tag-and-release (nonlethal) handling of the fish, although winning marlin are often brought back to the marina for verification of the size and weight. The 2010 White Marlin Open was held at Harbour Island Marina on 14th Street and the Bay. The 2016 White Marlin Open created controversy when the only fish that met the minimum weight requirement of 70 lb, was disqualified when the crew of the winning boat, ''Kallianassa'', was deemed to have failed a polygraph which implied that tournament rules were broken during the clash. The boat's owner, Phillip G. Heasley, was denied the $2.8 million of prize money.


References

ICCAT 2006. Report of the 2006 ICCAT Billfish stock assessment. SCI-012 2006. http://www.iccat.int/Documents/SCRS/DetRep/DET_whm.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:White Marlin Kajikia Fish described in 1860 Taxa named by Felipe Poey Fish of the Dominican Republic