10 60 



Figure 6. — Distribution of larvae of white 

 marlin, November-April. Large dots - larvae 

 present; small dots - larvae absent. (From 

 Ueyanagi, 1970, Fig. 21 and caption.) 



April through June. Collection of juveniles in January 

 in the adjacent waters, Lat. 10°N and 20°N, Long. 

 35°W and 60°W, suggests long lasting spawning 

 season of the species." 



2.22 Adults 



Adult white marlin are very widely distributed over 

 the warm parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the adja- 

 cent seas, but the degree of concentration, or apparent 

 abundance, varies greatly, both geographically and 

 seasonally. 



The catch and effort statistics of the Japanese 

 longline fishery comprise the most comprehensive 

 mass of data on the distribution and apparent relative 

 abundance of adult white marlin available. The effort 

 and the catches of each species tabulated by months 

 and 5° (latitude and longitude) quadrangles, and dis- 

 tributional charts of catch and effort, for the first 

 years of the fishery, 1956-62, were published by 

 Shiohama, Myojin, and Sakamoto (1965). Similar 

 data and charts for each of the years 1962-70 were 

 published by the Research Division of the Fisheries 

 Agency of Japan (1965, 1966, 1967a, 1967b, 1968, 1969, 

 1970, 1971, 1972) in its annual reports of effort and 

 catch statistics of the Japanese tuna longline fishery. 

 Several authors have organized this enormous mass of 

 data, including that for white marlin, into more com- 

 pact form. Wise and Le Guen (1969) presented catch 

 rates by years, months, and areas for 1956-63. Wise 

 (1968) and Wise and Fox (1969) made similar 

 analyses of the data for 1964 and 1965. Wise and Davis 

 (1973) show the average catch rates for the years 1956- 

 69 for each quarter of the year by contours (Fig. 7). We 

 have added indications of seasonal coastal oc- 



currences to these charts. Ueyanagi et al. (1970) have 

 also presented a thorough analysis, showing catch 

 rates by half-year periods (Fig. 4) and by months. 

 Mather et al. (1972) presented the average catches for 

 white marlin for the years 1956-67 by months (Fig. 5). 

 Our discussion of the oceanic distribution of adult 

 white marlin is based mainly on these sources. 



In the South Atlantic, white marlin concentrate in 

 the eastern side off Angola, in June-July, and on the 

 western side off Brazil and sometimes in the center, 

 for most of the rest of the year (Figs. 5, 7). The concen- 

 tration off Brazil centers off Recife in September and 

 October, but extends southward to the vicinity of Rio 

 de Janeiro. In November the concentration moves to 

 the south and also well to the east. In December- 

 February the catch rates are highest off Rio de 

 Janeiro, but isolated areas of concentration occur to 

 the eastward, in the central and eastern parts of the 

 ocean. March-May is a period of generally low catch 

 rates, except for isolated areas off easternmost and 

 southernmost Brazil. Concurrently with the June- 

 July concentration of white marlin off Angola there 

 are small areas of high catch rate off easternmost 

 Brazil, and in July in mid-ocean between these two 

 areas. Perhaps because of the limited development of 

 sport fisheries in the South Atlantic, no important 

 coastal concentrations of white marlin have been 

 found in that ocean. 



A few isolated records, however, supplement the 

 data provided by the Japanese longline fishery on the 

 distribution of white marlin in the South Atlantic. 

 LaMonte (1955) reported that the species occurs off 

 Cabo Frio, Brazil, December-February. During a visit 

 to the Yacht Club at Rio de Janeiro in January 1969, 

 the senior author was informed that sport fishermen 



65 



