Istiophorid Fishes — W ISNER 
61 
ico. Grey (1926: 105) mentioned a marlin in 
New Zealand waters that had a broken spear. 
The region of the break is not indicated, nor 
is the amount missing. Grey states, "De- 
prived of his weapon of defense and for pro- 
curing food, this marlin might well have been 
expected to be thin, flat, in poor condition. 
Nevertheless, he was solid, fat, in splendid 
shape. He had been compelled to rely on his 
speed." 
In September, 1952, the author examined 
two spearless striped marlin at the Marlin 
Club dock at San Diego, California. Each was 
captured with sporting tackle and trolled bait. 
Each spear had been broken off at about the 
tip of the lower jaw, as in Figure 1. Since both 
stubs had healed completely and were well 
covered with skin, a considerable time must 
have elapsed since the injuries. The fish 
weighed, respectively, 14914 and 186 lbs. 
(official club weight). These fish were of at 
least average weight for their length (Fig. 3). 
Morphometric data obtained on both speci- 
mens when compared with those of normal 
fish of the same body length and weight 
disclosed no significant differences in body 
proportions. 
The stomach contents of the smaller fish 
comprised the remains of 8 Pacific sauries, 
Cololabis saira (Brevoort), totalling 349 cc. 
The larger fish contained 5 small yellowfin 
croakers, Umbrina roncador Jordan and Gil- 
bert, totalling 785 cc., a small halfmoon, 
Medialuna californiensis (Steindachner), 105 
cc., and 1 trunk section of a Pacific saury, 
23 cc. The first fish had eaten a main item in 
the diet of local marlin, as determined by 
Hubbs and Wisner (1953), but its stomach 
contents were of less than average volume. 
The second had eaten more than an average 
amount, but chiefly of a shore species not 
otherwise encountered in the food studies. 
A third spearless striped marlin was landed 
at the San Diego Club on September 17, 1955. 
This fish was not examined by the author, but 
was reported to have been normal in all re- 
Fig. 1. Spearless striped marlin, weighing 149V2 
pounds. Photographed at the San Diego Marlin Club, 
Sept. 13, 1952, by R. Van Nostrand. 
spects and fought strongly. The stub was 
reported to be smoothly healed and covered 
with skin. A fourth spearless fish, landed in 
September, 1956, also was reported to be 
quite normal despite its loss of spear. This 
fish also was not examined by the author. 
Gudger (1940) cited many examples of 
portions of spears having been broken off at 
a considerable period of time before capture. 
All these fish had apparently survived the 
wound and had flourished since. Unfortu- 
nately, most reports did not estimate the 
amount of spear missing. One account ap- 
