526 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Figure 25. — Distribution of POFI catches of black marlin, Istiompax marlina. Fractions indicate stations at which 

 catches were reported out of the total fished; decimals indicate average catch per 100 hooks per day. 



Australia where one weighing 1,226 pounds was 

 stranded in April 1938, according to Gregory and 

 Conrad (1939), and also off Hawaii where the 

 largest of 77 weighed in the market was 1,100 

 pounds (table 4). 



Such record fish are always females; the largest 

 males have been much smaller. Nakamura (1951) 

 reports a ma.ximum weight for the males of 287 

 pounds. The largest male in the POFI collection 

 of six in which the sex was determined was 270 

 pounds and in those reported by Gregory and 

 Conrad from off New Zealand and Australia was 

 322 pounds. 



Data on the size composition of a large catch 

 are given for the Formosan fishery by Nakamura 

 (1944a). He reports that in the 1943 landings at 

 Takao, only 104 marlina of 2,542 weighed were 

 more than 440 pounds and the modal size was 90 

 to 110 pounds. At Suo, of 4,448 weighed, 74 were 

 more than 440 pounds; and there was a broad 



Table 4. — Weight frequency of Istiompax marlina landed 

 at Hawaiian markets in 1950 and 1951 



[Data from the Hawaiian Division of Flsb and Gamel 



mode at 1 10 to 200 pounds with a secondary mode 

 at 250 to 270 pounds, in February and March. 

 At Takao, the largest percentage of marlina 



