Author: Lacepede, 1801

Makaira nigricans Lacepede, 1801

Diagnosis: body fairly deep, nape rising quite steeply, bill long, very stout, round in cross-section. Pectoral fins greater than post-orbital part of head, capable of being folded back against body; pelvic fins shorter, with poorly developed membrane; first dorsal fin with high anterior lobe, but less than body depth, with 39-43 finrays, second dorsal fin with 6-7 finrays; first anal fin with 13- 16 finrays, second with 6-7 finrays; anus close to first anal fin origin; 2 horizontal keels on each side of caudal peduncle, caudal fin large, strongly forked. Body densely covered with imbedded scales, each with 1-2 long and acute spines. Colour: back bluish or grey-blue, lower flanks paler, belly silvery; fins dark, first dorsal fin with blue marks. Size: to about 4 m TL.

Habitat: epipelagic, oceanic, usually above the thermocline; fastswimming and strongly migratory. Food: a wide range of pelagic fishes, also crustaceans, cephalopods; bill probably used to attack prey. Reproduction: mainly July-September in eastern Atlantic; females grow larger, but are otherwise similar to males.

Distribution: warmer parts of area, northward to northwestern Spain; elsewhere, southward to southern Africa, also in western Atlantic and all warm seas.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Ueyanagi, 1957, 1962, 1963 | Gehringer, 1957: 169, fig. 25 | de Sylva, 1958, 1963a-b | Sun, 1960 | Caldwell, 1962 | Eschmeyer & Buliis, 1968 | Bartlett & Haedrich, 1968 | Ovchinnikov, 1971: 10 et passim.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Perciformes
Suborder Scombroidei
Family Istiophoridae
Genus Makaira
Species Makaira nigricans

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Makaira nigricans Lacepède, 1802

Scientific synonyms and common names

Makaira nigricans Lacepede, 1801

Synonyms:

Makaira nigricans Lacepède, 1802, Hist. nat. Poiss., 4: 688-691, pl. 13 (fig. 3) (original description; type locality: Ile de Ré, Bay of Biscay, France). Type specimen: based on a sketch of a 365 kg adult sent to Lacepède, in the Museum national dsHistoire naturelle; see Morrow, 1959, for discussion.
Tetrapturus herschelii Gray, 1838, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., 1: 313, pl. 10 (type locality: Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, east coast of Africa, based on a specimen 11 feet long).
Tetrapturus amplus Poey, 1860, Mem. Hist. nat. Cuba, 2: 237, 243-244, pl. XV (fig. 2), pl. 16 17 (fig. 12-25) (type locality: coast of Cuba). Type specimen: 2453 mm long; Poey Collection no. 190.
Istiophorus nigricans: Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 47 (1): 891.
Makaira ampla: Jordan & Evermann, 1926, 12: 69.
Makaira herscheu: Jordan & Evermann, 1926,12: 69-70.
Makaira bermudae Mowbray, 1931, Fauna Bermud., (1): 1, phot. (type locality: Castle Harbour, Bermuda). Specimen (10 feet 1 inch) destroyed.
Makaira nigricans ampla: Conrad & La Monte, 1937, 74 (4): 207-220.
Makaira ampla ampla: La Monte & Marcy, 1941, 1(2): table facing p. 3.
Eumakaira nigra Hirasaka & Nakamura, 1947, Bull. oceanogr. Inst. Taiwan, (3): 16, pl. 2 (fig. 2) (type locality: South China Sea and Japan Current).
Makaira perezi de Buen, 1950, Publ. Cient. Serv. oceanogr. Pesca, Montevideo (Uruguay). Type specimen: an adult, 3.82 m total length.
Istiompax howardi Whitley, 1954, Austral. Zool., 12: 58-60, pl. 3 (fig. 3) (type locality: New South Wales, Australia). Type: a 402 pound specimen, AMS no. IB 2924.
Makaira (Makaira) nigricans: Robins & de Sylva, 1963, 10 (4): 406.


Common names:

aguija azul [Es]
aguja de casta [Es]
blue marlin [En]
castero [Es]
cuban black marlin [En]
guja azul [Es]
makaire bleu [Fr]
peito [Pr]
squadron [En]

Bartlett, M. R.; Haedrich, R. L. 1968. Neuston nets and South Atlantic larval blue merlin. Copeia, (3): 469-474, 3 fig.

Conrad, G. M.; La Monte, F. R. 1937. Observations on the body form of the blue marlin (Makaira nigricans ampla Poey). Bull. Am. Mus. nat. Hist., 74 (4): 207-220.

De Sylva, D. P. 1958. Juvenile blue marlin, Makaira ampla (Poey) from Miami, Florida and West End, Bahamas. Bull. Am. Mus. nat. Hist., 114 (5): 412-415, pl.

De Sylva, D. P. 1963. Postlarva of the white marlin, Tetrapturus albidus from the Florida current off the Carolinas. Bull. mar. Sci. Gulf. Caribb., 13 (1) :123-132.

Eschmeyer, W. N.; Bullis, H. R. Jr. 1968. Four advanced larval specimens of the blue merlin, Makaira nigricans, from the western Atlantic Ocean. Copeia, (2): 414417.

Gehringer, J. W. 1957. Observations on the development of the Atlantic sailfish, Istiophorus americanus (Cuvier) with notes on an unidentified species of istiophorid. Fishery Bull. U.S., 1956 [1957], 57 (110) :139-171, 40 fig.

Hirasaka, K.; Nakamura, H. 1947. On the Formosan spearfishes. Bull oceanogr. Inst. Taipeh, Taiwan, (3): 11- 24, 1 fig., 3 pl.

Jordan, D. S.; Evermann, B. W. 1896-1900. The Fishes of North and Middle America, a descriptive catalogue of the species of fish-like vertebrates found in the waters of North America, north of the isthmus of Panama. Bull. U.S. natn. Mus., (47), Part I, 1896: Ix + 1-1240; Part II, 1898: xxx + 1241-2183 ; Part III, 1898: xxiv + 2184-3136; Part IV, 1900: ci + 3137-3313, 391 pl. (958 fig.).

Jordan, D. S.; Evermann, B. W. 1926. A review of the giant mackerel-like fishes, tunnies, spearfishes and swordfish. Occ. Pap. Calif. Acad. Sci., 12 :1-113, 20 pl.

La Monte, F. R.; Marcy, D. E. 1941. Swordfish, sailfish, marlin and spearfish. Ichthyol. Contrib. int. Game Fish Ass., New York, 1(2): pp. 1-24.

Lacepède, B. 1798-1803. Histoire naturelle des Poissons, 5 vol. in-4, Paris. I: 1798, 8+cxlvii+532 pp., 25 pl., 1 tabl. (inset); II: 1800, Ixiv+632 pp., 20 pl.; III: 1801, 558 pp., 34 pl.; IV: 1802, xliv+728 pp., 16 pl.; V: 1803, xlviii+803 pp., 21 pl.

Mowbray, L. L. 1931. A Bermudian spearfish, family Istiophoridae, Makaira bermudae n. sp. Mowbray. Fauna Bermudensis (1). Privately published unpaged.

Ovchinuikov, V. V. 1970. Swordfishes and Billfishes in the Atlantic ocean. Atlanticheskii Nauchno-issledovatel'skii Institut rybnogo Khozyaistva i Okeanografii, KalininFad, 77 p., 40 fig. (Engl. transl., I.P.S.T. Jerusalem, 1971.)

Poey, F. 1860. XLIX. Poissons de Cuba, espéces nouvelles: pp. 115-356, pl. 10-19, in Memorias sobre la historia natural de la isla de Cuba, 2, 1858-1861.

Robins, C. R.; De Sylva, D. P. 1961. Description and relationships of the longbill spearfish, Tetrapturus belone, based on western North Atlantic specimens. Bull. mar. Sci. Gulf Caribb., 10 (4): pp. 383-413.

Sun, Tszi-Gen, 1960. Larvae and Juveniles of tunas sailfishes, and swordfish (Thunnidae, Istiophoridae, Xiphiidae) from the central western part of the Pacific Ocean. Trudy Inst. Okeanol. SSSR, 41:175-191.

Whitley, G. P. 1954. More new fish names and records. Aust. Zool, 7 (1): pp. 57-62.

Gray, J. E. 1838. Description of a new species of Tetrapturus from the Cape of Good Hope Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., 36 (1): 313.

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