Credit: Illustration by Diane Rome Peebles

Family Istiophoridae

Description: color of body dark blue to chocolate brown, shading to slivery white underbelly; noticeable sports on dorsal fin; upper jaw elongated in shape of a spear; body covered with imbedded scales with a single sharp point; tips of first dorsal, pectoral, and first anal fins rounded; lateral line curved above pectoral fin then going straight line to base of tail.

Similiar fish: blue marlin, M. nigricans.

Where found: offshore, a bluewater fish.

Size: common to 8 feet.

Remarks uses its bill to stun fast-moving fishes, then turns to consume them; spawning procedures unknown; ranges throughtout the Atlantic and Caribbean; feeds on squid and pelagic fishes.

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