Animal · United States, Bahamas, Brazil
Blue marlin
Makaira nigricans — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The blue marlin is a huge fish of the open Atlantic with a long pointed bill and a stiff fin that stands up on its back like a sail. Females grow to five metres and weigh more than half a tonne, while males stay far smaller.
Picture credit: Raver Duane, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Public domain) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the blue marlin live?
Home: Warm open water of the Atlantic, far from any coast.
In the wild it lives in these countries: the United States, the Bahamas, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Portugal, Cape Verde, Angola.
Conservation status from the IUCN: vulnerable.
The short profile
Fully grown: up to 5 m long, females far bigger than males. It weighs about 120 kilograms. On the menu: meat.
The story behind it
A blue marlin spends its whole life in the open sea, often hundreds of kilometres from the nearest coast. Its body is built like a spear: the bill in front, a smooth blue-black back, a silvery belly and a crescent tail that pushes it forward in long bursts. Researchers estimate that a marlin at full speed reaches around 70 kilometres an hour, which puts it among the fastest fish in the ocean. It hunts mackerel, squid and tuna near the surface, slashing its bill through a school and then turning back to swallow the stunned fish. Females live longer than males, up to about 27 years, and can end up more than four times as heavy. The species is listed as vulnerable, because fishing fleets catch so many that the Atlantic stock has shrunk.
Find it on the globe
Blue marlin is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big does a blue marlin get?
Large females reach about five metres and can weigh more than 500 kilograms. Males are much smaller and rarely pass 160 kilograms, so nearly every giant marlin is female.
What does a marlin use its bill for?
It swings the bill sideways through a school of fish to hit and stun them. Then it turns around and picks up the injured fish, which is far easier than chasing each one.
Is the blue marlin endangered?
It is listed as vulnerable. Too many are caught, both on purpose and by accident in nets meant for tuna, and the Atlantic population is smaller than it once was.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: