The vertebral count is 24 (12 + 12), differing from the other species of the genus Makaira , 

 which have 11 + 13. The palatine teeth are vestigial and the branchiostegal rays are slender. 

 In life the dorsal surfaces are dark purple in color and the ventral surfaces are silvery white. 

 There are no markings other than a dozen or ao clearly apparent transverse cobalt bars on the 

 sides of the body. 



This is the smallest and the highest priced fish of the genus Makaira . 



Habits 



This fish is very abundant around the island throughout the whole fishing season, and it 

 is occasionally but rarely taken in fixed gear in the summer. It is present in greater or lesser 

 numbers around the island throughout the year. Those taken during the winter at distances from 

 30 to 300 miles off the coast are generally very small, large ones being taken in the coastal 

 zones within 30 miles. 



4) Makaira mazara Jordan and Snyder, kurokajiki /black marlin/ 



Plate 13, figure 2 



Kurokajiki or kur okawaka jiki (throughout the island); Formosan names % (S.) ^ ^^ ,'t, (Suo), 

 WITT^ (Keelung). 



Tetrapturus nnazara--Jordan and Snyder. Jour. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, 1901. 



Tanaka, Shigeo. Japanese Ichthyology, p. 375, 1921. (kurokawa) Asano, Kotaro. 

 Illustrated classification of aquatic animals, 1933. 



Tetrapturus mitsukurii (?)--Tanaka, Shigeo. Illustrated atlas of useful, harnnful, and 

 admirable aquatic animals and plants, p. 163, 1933, 



Makaira mazara -- Jordan and Evermann. Occ. Papers Calif. Acad. Sci. XII, p. 53, 1926. 



Morphology - D. Ill, 14-16, XXIII-XXVII, 7. A. II, 14, 7, V. I, 2, Vertebrae-24 

 (11 + 13) 



The body is not as compressed laterally as in other species but is rounded, the body 

 depth increasing somewhat in the vicinity of the 1st anal fin. Body length is 2. 76 times the head 

 length, 4. 56 times the body depth (a), and 5, 68 tin-ies the body depth (b). The head length is 1. 53 

 times the snout length, 5. 7 times the interorbital space, and the distance from the upper posterior 

 edge of the eye to the origin of the Ist dorsal fin is 4.22 times the eye diameter. The upper jaw 

 is 2.21 times the length of the lower jaw, and the ratio of the snout length to the rest of the body 

 is 2.97. The body depth (a) is 5. 9 times that of the caudal peduncle. The anterior part of the Ist 

 dorsal fin is well developed, but it gradually becomes lower posteriorly; the anterior fin rays are 

 stout. The body depth is about 1. 5 times the height of the 1st dorsal. The body depth is 1.2 times 

 the length of the pectorals, which are well developed. The ventral fins are poorly developed and 

 small. The suial fin is well developed. The caudal fin is broadly forked, and both its upper and 

 lower lobes are narrow. The caudal peduncle bears two pairs of keels, an upper and a lower. 

 The dorsal surfaces of the body are dark purple, the ventral surfaces are brownish, and the body 

 as a whole has a conspicuously blackish tinge which gives it its name kurokawakajiki or "black 

 ■kin spearfish. " In life the dorsal fin is a beautiful cobalt color, but it turns black if exposed for 

 long to the air. The sides of the body have obscure transverse bands made up of cobalt spots, the 

 spots running together. The lateral line is rather complexly curved in the anterior portion, but 

 the posterior part runs straight. 



The vertebral count is 11 + 13, both jaws have rasp-like teeth, and the palatine teeth are 

 poorly developed and vestigial. The pectoral girdle is narrow and its anterior margins are con- 

 spicuously concave. The branchiostegal membranes are short and the branchiostegal rays are 



28 



