Canada and France - Makaire blanc 



Cuba - Aguja blanca, Cabezona, Blanca, Aguja de 



paladar 

 Japan - Nishimakajiki, Makajiki 

 Korea - Baeg-sae-chi 

 Morocco - Espadon 

 Portugal - Espadim branco do Atlantico, Espadim 



branco, Agulha, Espadim pequefio 

 South Africa - Wit marlyn (Afrikaans) 

 Spain - Pez aguja, Alfiler, Cometa, Alton 

 United States - White marlin, Skilligalee (New 



England) 

 USSR - Belyi marlin 

 Venezuela - Aguja blanca 



1.3 Morphology 



Our description of the morphology of Tetrapturus 

 albidus is based on Poey (1861), LaMonte (1955, 

 1958a, 1958b), Robins and de Sylva (1960, 1963), 

 Nakamura et al. (1968), Robins (1974), unpublished 

 data collected by Mather and his colleagues, and 

 other sources as cited. Proportions are expressed in 

 percent of body length, with most measurements 

 taken as defined by Rivas (1956). Additional 

 measurements were taken as specified. The following 

 abbreviations from Robins and de Sylva (1960) are 

 used: 



D 1 = first dorsal fin 

 D 2 = second dorsal fin 

 C = caudal fin 

 A 1 = first anal fin 

 A 2 = second anal fin 

 P 1 = pectoral fin 

 P 2 = pelvic fin 

 orig. = origin (in reference to fins) 

 c.p. = caudal pedencle 



The word "ray," if not qualified, is used to designate 

 fin elements without any implication as to whether 

 they are spines or segmented rays. 



1.31 External morphology 



The body of the white marlin is of a modified 

 fusiform shape, slender and notably compressed 

 laterally (depth: greatest 14-19, near posterior margin 



of opercle; at orig. A, 12-16; c.p. 3.5-4.2; width: 

 greatest 5.2-9.4, near orig. A; at c.p. [in front of keels] 

 2.7-3.8). The bill is like a spear, or, as the English 

 name of the fish implies, a marlin spike. Its length is 

 25-35 from the edge of the eye, or 14-18 from the tip of 

 the mandible. At the latter point, it is 0.81-1.3 deep 

 and 1.2-2.0 wide, and at one third of the distance from 

 the tip of the bill to the tip of the mandible Poey 

 found the depth to be 0.5-0.6 of the width. 



The head (24-27) tapers very rapidly from a 

 pronounced dorsal hump over the opercles to a beak- 

 like mouth formed by the bill and the sharply pointed 

 lower jaw. Its dorsal and ventral profiles are concave 

 anteriorly and convex posteriorly. The mouth opening 

 is large (maxillary 15-17), extending beyond the 

 posterior margin of the fleshy orbit by about one-third 

 of its diameter, which is 2.8-3.2. The eye is about 

 midway between the tip of the mandible and the oper- 

 culum and the preoperculum about midway from the 

 eye to the operculum. The nostrils, each consisting of 

 two openings, are about two thirds of the diameter of 

 the eye ahead of its anterior margin. 



The body depth tapers gradually from the opercular 

 area to the first anal fin, then more rapidly to the 

 origin of the caudal. 



A pair of horizontal cartilaginous keels (2.7-4.7), 

 one above the other, is located on each side of the 

 caudal peduncle, orginating in nearly the same 

 longitudinal position as the caudal fin. The caudal fin 

 is stiff, powerful, and deeply forked. Its spread is 33- 

 43, and an angle of 80° between the posterior margin 

 (disregarding the tips) and the centerline was 

 reported for the type specimen. Poey lists 12 caudal 

 rays for the type specimen, and Goode (1881) gives a 

 count of 6 + 4 + 4 + 5 for a specimen collected off 

 New Bedford, Mass. 



The first dorsal, first anal, and pelvic fins disappear 

 completely into dorsal and ventral groves when not in 

 use. The pectorals fit flush with the sides of the fish in 

 slight depressions in the body, but the second dorsal 

 and second anal fins are not retractable. Poey (1861) 

 described the characteristics and arrangement of the 

 rays of these fins in detail. Their counts are: D, - 38-46 

 (usually 40-43); D 2 - 5-7 (usually 5-6); A! - 12-18 

 (usually 14-16); A, - 5-7 (usually 6); P, - 17-22 (usually 

 19-21); and P, - 5. Frequency distributions of D„ D 2 , 

 A„ A 2 , and P; counts for white marlin from the eastern 



Table 1. — Fin-ray counts of western' and eastern Atlantic white marlin, Tetrapturus albidus. 



1 Data from Robins and de Sylva ( 1960: Table 1). 



2 Only the left pectoral fin was counted. 

 Source: Robins, 1974, Table 1. 



59 



