of by the skipper as he wished. There was little or no 

 demand for marlin and skippers were only too 

 pleased to inform the South African Museum when 

 they landed marlin in return for a small commission. 

 There was, however, a strong market demand for 

 broadbill swordfish with the result that these fish 

 were immediately sold on docking to fish dealers and 

 seafood restaurants. 



The collection of billfishes examined was not large 

 but was interesting in the number of species that 

 were found to occur in this limited area of water. 

 Apart from the swordfish (X. gladius) four species 

 of marlin. the black (M. indica), the blue (M. 

 nigricans), the striped (T. audax) and the white (T. 

 albidus). and one species of spearfish (T.pfluegeri) 

 were obtained from the area during that period. 



BILLFISHES RECORDED FROM THE 

 CAPE OF GOOD HOPE 



Xiphias gladius 



The data for the broadbill swordfish are scanty, 

 especially with regard to longline-caught fish, since 

 it was the only marketable billfish landed. The 

 species does not appear to have any seasonal pattern 

 of appearance off the Cape, occurring at any time of 

 the year. It was caught in a very wide range of sizes 

 and in a number of ways, from a juvenile collected 

 alive in a tidal pool to large specimens taken by 

 longlining. The majority of fish examined were not 

 taken by longlines but by bottom trawlers fishing in 

 water over 100 fathoms deep. It is presumed that the 



swordfish were feeding on the bottom; in one case a 

 number of semidigested coryphaenoid fishes were 

 found in the gut. 



Makaira indica 



Black marlin were the most common of the is- 

 tiophorids off the Cape. They apparently had a very 

 limited season, being found only between the middle 

 of January and the end of March (with one excep- 

 tion). All fish examined were unripe females and 

 of a large size (up to 645 kg). All but one of the fish 

 were taken by longliners. 



Tetrapturus audax 



Striped marlin were not as common as black; only 

 13 fish were seen. They appeared to be present in the 

 area at the same time as the black, and also were 

 found only between the middle of January and the 

 end of March. Again there was one exception to this 

 pattern; for this species, and the black marlin, the 

 exceptions were fish caught in 1962. All striped mar- 

 lin examined were taken by longline. 



Tetrapturus albidus 



White marlin were rare and only three were taken 

 in the 4 yr under consideration.There is a suggestion 

 that they may appear a little later than the other two 

 species so far discussed, being found from February 

 to May. However, the May specimen was taken in 

 1962, when the water conditions off the Cape possi- 

 bly remained suitable for billfishes until later than in 



Figure 1. — The Cape of Good Hope. 

 177 



