VOLKOV, A. F.. AND I. F. MOROZ. 



1977. Oceanological conditions of the distribution of 

 cetacea in the Eastern Tropical part of the Pacific 

 Ocean. Int. Whaling Comm. Rep. 27:186-188. 

 W.-\n,A. S. 



1977. Indices of abundance of large-sized whales in North 

 Pacific in the 1975 whaling season. Int. Whaling Comm. 

 Rep. 27:189-192. 

 WHEELER. J. F. G. 



1946. Observations on whales in the South Atlantic Ocean 

 in 1943. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 116:221-224. 

 WYRTKI. K. 



1964. Upwelling in the Costa Rica Dome. U.S. Fish 

 Wildl. Serv.. Fish. Bull. 63:355-372. 



Lawrence S. Wade 



Southwest Fisheries Center La Jolla Laboratory 



National Marine Fisheries Service. NOAA 



La Jolla. Calif. 



Present address: P.O. Bo.x 4455 



Areata. CA 95521 



Gary L. Friedrichsen 



Southwest Fisheries Center La Jolla Laboratory 



National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 



La Jolla. Calif. 



Present address: P.O. Box 890 



Areata. CA 95521 



A substantial sport fishery exists for white mar- 

 lin in the Atlantic off North and South America. 

 In the United States, the major sport fisheries 

 occur along the Middle Atlantic States, from New 

 Jersey to North Carolina, off southeast Florida, 

 and along the Gulf Coast States. Important sport 

 fisheries also occur in the Bahamas, off Havana, 

 Cuba, and along the coast of Venezuela ( Mather et 

 al. 1972). Another important sport fishery re- 

 cently developed off eastern Brazil (Anonymous 

 1976). 



The white marl in is also an incidental catch of 

 commercial longline vessels fishing for tuna in the 

 Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico (Mather et al. 1975). 

 The marlin is highly prized as a food item in some 

 countries (Kume and Joseph 1969). 



My review of the literature on white marlin 

 shows that there is a need for additional informa- 

 tion on sex composition and length-weight rela- 

 tionships. Until recently, no information was 

 available regarding its reproductive potential 

 (Baglin^). In this paper I update reproductive and 

 sex ratio data presented by Bagliij (see footnote 2) 

 and include length-weight relationships. 



Materials and Methods 



SEX COMPOSITION, LENGTH-WEIGHT 

 RELATIONSHIP, AND REPRODUCTION OF THE 

 WHITE MARLIN, TETRAPTURUS ALBIDUS, IN 

 THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN' 



In the Atlantic, white marlin, Tetrapturus al- 

 bidus. range from lat. 35°S to 45°N with concen- 

 trations in the western Atlantic, including the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea ( Mather et 

 al. 1975). Tag returns show that some white mar- 

 lin migrate seasonally from the U.S. Middle At- 

 lantic Bight (the coastal area between Cape Cod 

 and Cape Hatteras) in the summer to the south- 

 eastern Caribbean Sea in the winter ( Mather et al. 

 1972). Commercial catches by Japanese longline 

 vessels support the tagging results, but the 

 catches also indicate that a second group of white 

 marlin moves from a wintering area in the south- 

 eastern Caribbean to summer grounds in the Gulf 

 of Mexico (Ueyanagi et al. 1970; Mather et al. 

 1972; Wise and Davis 1973). 



White marlin from the northern Gulf of Mexico 

 (hereafter referred to as the gulf), the Florida 

 Straits, the western Bahamas, and the Middle At- 

 lantic Bight of the western North Atlantic (hereaf- 

 ter referred to as the Atlantic) were sampled from 

 anglers' catches at sport fishing tournaments and 

 at Pflueger Marine Taxidermy, Inc., Hallandale, 

 Fla. One marlin was collected by longline in the 

 Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispaniola 

 during RV Oregon Cruise 66. 



Sex data were obtained from 1,128 white marlin 

 captured by anglers in the gulf ( 1971-77) and from 

 720 white marlin caught by anglers from the At- 

 lantic (1972-77). 



Lengths and weights were obtained from 904 

 white marlin captured in the gulf (1971-76) and 

 from 489 white marlin captured in the Atlantic 

 ( 1972-76). Body lengths ( straight distance from tip 

 of lower jaw to tips of midcaudal rays) were mea- 

 sured in centimeters (Rivas 1956); weights were 

 recorded to the nearest pound and converted to 

 kilograms. 



'Contribution No. 78-44M, Southeast Fisheries Center Miami 

 Laboratory-, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Miami, 

 Fla. 



^Baglin, R. E., Jr. 1977. Maturity, fecundity and sex composi- 

 tion of white marlin I Tetrapturus albidusl . Collective Volume of 

 Scientific Papers 6(79):408-416. International Commission for 

 the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, Madrid, Spain. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL 76. NO. 4, 1979. 



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