Table 11. — Regression of morphometric character on eye-fork length (cm) for pooled 

 (sexes) samples of striped marlin from the eastern Pacific. Weight-length relation is based 

 on log transformed data (log Y = a + b log A); all other relations are based on untrans- 

 formed data (Y = a + bX). 



covered that the length of the pectoral tin was sig- 

 nificantly longer in fish caught in the South Pacific 

 (lat. 18=-25°S) than in the North Pacific (lat. 

 30°-35°N). In Figure 10, we have superimposed 

 Kamimura and Honma's equations on a band that 

 represents the equations calculated from our data 

 on pectoral fin lengths. The North Pacific sample is 

 most similar to ours, which is from about lat. 

 20°-35°N. The South Pacific fish, on the other hand, 

 have definitely longer pectoral fins than our samples, 

 but only for fish less than about 210 cm long. 



Data on length of pectoral fin for nine striped 

 marlin (for which eye-fork length was available) re- 

 ported by Royce ( 1957) from the central and eastern 



equatorial Pacific are also plotted in Figure 10. The 

 plots indicate that either theie is mixing in the cen- 

 tral Pacific of the presumed South and North 

 Pacific stocks of striped marlin or Kamimura and 

 Honma's samples did not adequately reflect the de- 

 gree of variability in length of pectoral fin of fish 

 from the North and South Pacific. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING 

 REMARKS 



Morphometric data for 57 female blue marlin are 

 presented; comparisons with fish from other areas 

 were omitted due to the small sample size. For sail- 

 fish it appears that characters such as maximum 



119 



