360 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



and brought into the Boston Fish Pier. A marlin 

 about 5 feet loDg was taken on Georges Bank by 

 the schooner Ethel Merriarn, on August 5, 1925, 

 but this may have been a white (p. 359). 



Blue marlins are sighted at long intervals off 

 Marthas Vineyard. And fishermen report them 

 now and then along the southern edge of Georges 

 (any very large marlin is a blue) but do not har- 

 poon them, for they have no market value. They 

 are game fish par excellence, and much sought 

 after off Cuba and in the Bahaman side of the 

 Straits of Florida. They also support a consider- 

 able commercial fishery off the north coast of 

 Cuba. 2 



White marlin Makaira albida (Poey) 1860 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 892, Tetrapterus 

 imperator (Bloch and Schneider) 1801, in part. 



Description. — The white marlin differs from its 

 larger relative the blue marlin in its rounded first 

 dorsal and pectoral fins, in the pale color of the 

 lower part of its sides, and in its white belly (p. 

 359) ; and in its smaller size. Few grow larger than 

 125 pounds; the rod and reel record stands at 161 

 pounds. 3 This fish was 8 feet 8 inches long. 



General range. — Western North Atlantic; com- 

 mon in Cuban and Bahaman waters, and off south- 

 ern Florida; north regularly in summer to the offing 

 of Delaware Bay in abundance, and to southern 

 New England waters in lesser numbers. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine.- — So many white 

 marlin come northward, as far as New York waters 

 that about 500 were taken off Montauk, Long 

 Island, on rod and reel during the 11 years 1925- 

 1936, and more than 150 in 1935 alone. 4 And a 

 few are caught off the southern Massachusetts 

 Islands in most summers. 



But their usual turning point is west of Nan- 

 tucket. True, Farrington 5 speaks of "great 

 quantities" of them as seen on Georges Bank; 

 but we cannot find that any marlin caught there 

 has been identified positively as a white, though 

 one about 5 feet long taken on August 5, 1925 

 (p. 359) may perhaps have been one. The meager 

 record suggests that they may stray oftener to 

 outer Nova Scotian waters, for a 5-foot fish weigh- 

 ing 21 pounds, caught on Sable Island Bank, 

 August 18, 1931, probably was a white marlin, 

 while Farrington reports one harpooned off Glace 

 Bay near Sidney, in 1945, and others sighted off 

 Halifax that same year. 



Figure 189. — White marlin (Makaira albida). From Goode. 

 THE DOLPHINS. FAMILY CORYPHAENIDAE 



The dolphins (two species are known) are 

 moderately slender and flattened sidewise, with 

 slightly projecting lower jaw, a massive blunt 

 head, a long, rather high dorsal fin without spines, 

 extending from close behind the head to near the 

 base of the caudal fin, an anal similar to the dorsal 

 in shape but shorter, and a widely forked tail. 

 They have small comb-like teeth in the jaws and 

 on the roof of the mouth. 



• Farrington (in Vesey-Fitzgerald and Lamonte, Game Fishes of the 

 World, 1949, p. 153) gives an interesting account of this fishery. 



• One caught off Miami, Fla., Mar. 20, 1938, by L. F. Hooper. 



Common dolphin Coryphaena hippurus 

 Linnaeus 1758 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 952. 



Description. — The dolphin differs from related 

 fishes in that its long tapering body is most 

 massive and deepest close behind the head, and 

 that its dorsal fin, originating over the gill cover, 

 extends back nearly to the base of its deeply 



* Information supplied by Frank Mather of the Woods Hole Oceanographic 

 Institution. 

 ' In Vesey-Fitzgerald and Lamonte, Game Fish of the World 1949, p. 155. 



