Istiophoridae

Striped marlin

Kajikia audax

A horseshoe migration arc spanning the Pacific

• Black
• Blue
• Gray
• Silver
• Tropical
• Globally widespread
• Marine fish
• Fusiform
• Large
• Tropical fish

Renowned among offshore ocean predators for its luminous cobalt vertical striping and unmatched aerial acrobatics, the striped marlin is an agile, highly migratory pelagic billfish roaming the warm Indo-Pacific. Its sleek, hydrodynamic frame features an elongated, rounded spear-like rostrum and a deeply notched crescent tail, cloaked in dark steely-blue above and clean silver-white below. The defining field mark is a series of fifteen to twenty brilliant, iridescent cobalt-blue vertical bars that illuminate along the flanks during excited feeding bouts. Its lofty first dorsal fin is pointed, with its anterior height equaling or exceeding the body depth. Distributed circum-Indo-Pacific through tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate waters from the surface down to two hundred meters depth, it avoids Atlantic waters completely. Solitary or gathering in small loose packs, it pursues fast schooling sauries, flying fish, mackerels, and squids, using rapid sideways bill lashes to stun prey before turning to engulf. Maximum recorded total length reaches four hundred and twenty centimetres.

Sources: NOAA Fisheries — Striped Marlin, Kajikia audax