Makaira nigricans, Blue marlin : fisheries, gamefish

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Makaira nigricans Lacepède, 1802

Blue marlin
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Makaira nigricans   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Makaira nigricans (Blue marlin)
Makaira nigricans
Female Picture by Baumeier, E.

Common names from other countries

Makaire bleu, Aguja azul, 蓝枪鱼, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Carangiformes (Jacks) > Istiophoridae (Billfishes)
Etymology: Makaira: Greek,makaira, -as = happy, rich (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Lacepède.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 1000 m (Ref. 43). Subtropical; 22°C - 31°C (Ref. 43); 50°N - 45°S, 180°W - 180°E (Ref. 43)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Atlantic Ocean: in tropical and temperate waters. We follow Nakamura 1985 (Ref. 43) in recognizing Makaira mazara and Makaira nigricans as two distinct species chiefly because of differences in the pattern of the lateral line system. Many scientists, however, do not recognize this character as specifically diagnostic and consider the latter species as a single pantropical species occurring in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Highly migratory species.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 50 - ? cm
Max length : 500 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 11441); 500.0 cm TL (female); common length : 290 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6659); max. published weight: 636.0 kg (Ref. 40637); max. published weight: 636.0 kg; max. reported age: 20 years (Ref. 120707)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 45 - 50; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 19 - 23. Body blue-black above and silvery white below, with about 15 rows of pale cobalt-colored stripes; 1st dorsal fin plain blackish or dark blue, other fins brown black with a tinge of dark blue in some specimens; anal fin bases with a tinge of silvery white. Lateral line a network of interconnecting canals (Ref. 26938).
Body shape (shape guide): elongated.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

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).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

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.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

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. (Ref. 43)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)

  Vulnerable (VU) (A2bd); Date assessed: 10 May 2021

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
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Ecology
Ecology
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Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | GoMexSI (interaction data) | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | RFE Identification | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 11.5 - 27.3, mean 22.4 °C (based on 477 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.7505   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00427 (0.00255 - 0.00714), b=3.11 (2.96 - 3.26), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.5   ±0.3 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 3.4 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.3-1.5; tmax=20; Fec>10,000).
Prior r = 0.44, 95% CL = 0.29 - 0.66, Based on 6 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (52 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate to high vulnerability (50 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 23.3 [9.7, 43.0] mg/100g; Iron = 0.898 [0.478, 1.711] mg/100g; Protein = 19.8 [18.5, 21.0] %; Omega3 = 0.245 [0.123, 0.499] g/100g; Selenium = 71.6 [34.5, 159.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 3.61 [0.99, 13.41] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.283 [0.180, 0.446] mg/100g (wet weight);