530 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



be the saury, Cololabis, and the northern anchovy, 

 Engraulis. In both of these studies minor 

 quantities of cephalopods were found. Yabuta 

 (1953), who reported on 64 striped marlin taken 

 off the Bonin Islands, gives a long list of items 

 which includes Gempylus in 75 percent of the 

 stomachs, Pseudoscopelus in 41 percent, Alepisau- 

 rus in 41 percent, Ostracion in 30 percent, Crustacea 

 in 30 percent, and cephalopods in 67 percent of 

 the stomachs. Among the numerous minor food 

 items were Katsuwonus, 14 percent, and even the 

 broadbill swordfish Xiphias gladius in 1 stomach. 

 Of the 19 stomachs from equatorial waters taken 

 by POFI (appendix table 5, p. 554), 13 contained 

 material which included several tunalike fishes, 

 some identifiable as Auxis, and miscellaneous 

 remains of other fish, shrimp, and squid. 

 Size 



The maximum size of the striped marlin is a 

 matter of some uncertainty because it seems to 

 have been confused with ampla. Farrington (1949) 

 noted that the world's record, taken off California, 

 was 692 pounds; the next largest, taken off Chile, 

 weighed 483 pounds. He states, "It seems strange 

 that no one has ever taken a striped marlin be- 

 tween these weights." The larger record seems to 

 us unreasonably large when compared with the 

 maxima found in other parts of the Pacific. 

 Griffin (1927) reports a male (?) of 381 pounds 

 from off New Zealand, and Grey (1928) caught 21 

 off New Zealand that ranged up to 350 pounds. 

 Gregory and Conrad (1939) took 27 off New 



Zealand and Australia weighing up to 336 pounds, 

 and Morrow (1952a) presented the data on 48 fish 

 weighing up to 336 pounds. 



In the North Pacific, the striped marlin seems 

 to reach an even smaller maximum size. Naka- 

 mura (1944b) in a weight frequency study of 

 1,387 specimens from off Formosa had class sizes 

 ranging up to 130 kg. (290 pounds), although in 

 his 1949 paper he reported that this marlin 

 reached a maximum of 220 pounds. The latter 

 weight seems improbably low, because in the 

 specimens taken along the Pacific Equator by 

 POFI one of 314 pounds was weighed, and in the 

 Hawaiian market (table 5) occasional specimens 

 weighing nearly 300 pounds and one rather question- 

 able record of 434 pounds have been listed. 

 Ueyanagi (1954b) gives a maximum class size of 

 200 cm. orbit to fork, which is approximately 190 

 pounds. The largest specimen caught in 1955 off 

 La Jolla, Calif., weighed 406.5 pounds (Carl L. 

 Hubbs and Robert L. Wisner, personal communi- 

 cation). AH of this information suggests that the 

 maximum size of the striped marlin is less than 

 500 pounds. 



In the longline fishery off Japan, the modal 

 size of audax is rarely greater than 100 pounds, 

 according to Ueyanagi (1954a). He also showed 

 the variation in size composition by latitude from 

 the Equator to 30° N. In each latitudinal zone 

 there is a major mode around 75 to 80 pounds, 

 but between 10° and 20° N. another major mode 

 is centered at 105 cm., or 24 pounds. Such a 



Tables. — Weight frequency of striped marlin, Makaira audax, /rom the Honolulu market, January 1949-FehTuary 1952 



[Data from the Hawaiian Division of Fish and Qame] 



