White marlin fishing: the million-dollar fish nobody could reliably identify until 2001

October 9, 2026

In Ocean City, in the US state of Maryland, offshore anglers have gathered every year since 1974 for the White Marlin Open (Russian Wikipedia); according to the English Wikipedia, the town calls itself the “White Marlin Capital of the World”. In 2019, according to the Russian Wikipedia, 3,500 people took part and 6.1 million dollars were paid out — 1.5 million of it for a single white marlin of 36 kg. In 2016, according to the English Wikipedia, only one fish met the minimum weight of 70 pounds; the crew failed a polygraph test, and the boat owner was denied 2.8 million dollars. And yet until 2001 nobody could say for sure how many white marlin there actually are: according to the English Wikipedia, some of the fish counted were a different species. This article is about the white marlin, *Kajikia albida* (also Atlantic white marlin) — German Weißer Marlin, French makaire blanc, Spanish aguja blanca or marlín blanco, Italian marlin bianco, Portuguese marlim-branco, Japanese ニシマカジキ (nishimakajiki).

The fish that was two fish

The look-alike is the roundscale spearfish, *Tetrapturus georgii*. According to the English Wikipedia, the white marlin was often mistaken for it — and vice versa —, which has probably skewed the stock figures of both species. Only in 2001 did researchers at the Guy Harvey Research Institute of Nova Southeastern University in Florida show with DNA tests that they are two clearly distinct species. It can be done by eye too, but only up close, in two places. First, the scales: in the roundscale spearfish their front end is broad and round, hence the name; in the white marlin they are stiffer, according to the Russian Wikipedia pointed at the front, with one or two hard points on the rear edge. Second, the distance between the anus and the anal fin: in the spearfish the anus sits well ahead of the fin, more than half its length away (English Wikipedia); in the white marlin the gap is much smaller than half the height of the first anal fin, according to the Russian Wikipedia 0.18 to 0.39 times that height. The Russian Wikipedia calls scale shape and this distance the decisive features for telling these marlins apart at all.

The name has changed, too. The Cuban zoologist Felipe Poey described the fish in 1860 as *Tetrapturus albidus* — in the same genus as the spearfishes, among them the Mediterranean spearfish (English, Russian Wikipedia). Only in 2006 did Collette and colleagues move it, after genetic studies, into the new genus *Kajikia*, together with its closest relative, the striped marlin (*Kajikia audax*) of the Indo-Pacific (English Wikipedia). The German Wikipedia calls the two sister species: one in the Atlantic, the other in the Indo-Pacific.

How to recognise it

It is a medium-sized marlin (English Wikipedia): according to the Russian Wikipedia smaller than the blue marlin and the sailfish, but clearly larger than the spearfishes. The body is elongated and compressed from the sides, the bill thick, long and round in cross-section, the nape raised (Russian Wikipedia), the tail deeply forked and sickle-shaped. The most striking feature is the first dorsal fin: tall at the front — taller than the body is deep — and rounded at the front, then, according to the Russian Wikipedia, it drops steeply at the level of the twelfth ray and runs low along almost the whole back. The pectoral fins are also long, broad and rounded at the tip; the narrow pelvic fins are about as long as the pectorals (German, Russian Wikipedia). The lateral line is clearly visible and forms a hump above the pectoral fin (English Wikipedia). The skin carries very small, pointed scales, even on the bill, and according to the German Wikipedia is somewhat reminiscent of a shark’s.

The colour: blue-black above, the flanks silvery white with brown spots, the belly silvery white; sometimes more than 15 rows of faint whitish stripes run across the body (FishBase). The German Wikipedia describes the back as a rich dark blue, usually with 16 to 22 narrow, pale saddle bars, the flanks often clouded brownish. The first dorsal fin is dark blue with black dots, the pectoral and tail fins blackish brown (FishBase). Like other marlins, according to the Russian Wikipedia it can change colour depending on its excitement. It has no gill rakers, but it does have small yet sharp teeth (English Wikipedia, FishBase), and instead of a swim bladder, according to the English Wikipedia, small bubble-like chambers that take over its job. Juveniles of about 12 cm still carry a sail-like dorsal fin with eyespots (German Wikipedia) — the Russian one counts four of them, which disappear as the fish grows.

Size: FishBase gives 300 cm total length as the maximum, 210 cm as the common length and 82.5 kg as the heaviest published weight. According to the Russian Wikipedia this is the record of the International Game Fish Association, caught on 8 December 1979 off Brazil. In the commercial longline catch, fish of 130 to 210 cm dominate (Russian Wikipedia). The females grow larger (FishBase).

In the Mediterranean: a vagrant

The white marlin is a fish of the Atlantic: according to FishBase from about 45° north to 45° south in the south-western Atlantic and down to 35° south in the south-eastern Atlantic, plus the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean (English Wikipedia). The German Wikipedia draws the northern limit between Cape Hatteras and the Bay of Biscay, the southern limit between Mar del Plata and the Cape region of South Africa; even in the English Channel it is said to be very rare. The limits shift with the seasons: only in the warm season of each hemisphere does it reach higher latitudes (FishBase, Russian Wikipedia). And the Mediterranean? FishBase writes that records from the Mediterranean and from Brittany apparently go back to a few stray individuals; the English and the Russian Wikipedia say the same. The German, Italian and Finnish Wikipedia are more generous: it occurs rarely in the western Mediterranean. The Italian one calls it “rare in Italian seas”.

So anyone with a marlin on the hook in the Mediterranean usually has a different one: the Mediterranean spearfish, *Tetrapturus belone*, the only marlin that spends its entire life in the Mediterranean, and to which this series devotes a group of its own. The Italian Wikipedia compares the two directly: the white marlin has a longer bill, a rounded front lobe of the dorsal fin, much longer pectoral fins and, on the flanks, numerous vertical stripes ranging from lilac to sky blue. The way it is caught is said to be similar to the spearfish. How often it actually turns up in the Mediterranean is stated by none of the sources — no number, no season, no area.

Where it lives and what it eats

Water: mostly above the thermocline, in deep, blue water of more than 100 metres with a surface temperature above 22 °C and a salinity of 35 to 37 per mille; over large parts of its range, currents run at 0.5 to 2 knots (FishBase). FishBase gives a depth of 0 to 150 metres, mostly 0 to 100. According to the German Wikipedia, it avoids shallower water under 100 metres and temperatures below 22 °C.
Structure: According to the English Wikipedia it is found near banks, shoals and canyons; the German one names water-mass boundaries, upwelling zones, drop-offs and underwater gorges — and says current doesn’t bother it. According to the Russian Wikipedia it often hunts over underwater rises.
Dives: It dives in V- or U-shaped arcs down to about 200 metres for prey. For the cold, dark water it has larger eyes and can selectively warm its eyes and brain (English Wikipedia).
Food: Fish and squid (FishBase). The English Wikipedia names flying fish, small tunas, dolphinfish and squid, the German one herrings, mackerels, perches and even smaller sharks, the Portuguese one bonito and cuttlefish. According to the Russian Wikipedia, in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida and Mississippi it ate small tunas of the genera *Euthynnus* and *Auxis*; off north-eastern Brazil mainly the Atlantic pomfret (*Brama brama*) and a squid found in every second stomach. Most prey animals there were 8 cm at most, and each stomach held only one or two — the largest was a snake mackerel of 40 to 73 cm.
Hunting: According to the German Wikipedia, it disables its prey with blows of its bill. Because its stomach is small, according to the Russian Wikipedia it hunts all day long in small portions. Sometimes it hunts together with other predatory fish to feed more efficiently (English Wikipedia).
Breathing: It is a ram ventilator — it has to keep swimming in order to breathe (English Wikipedia). According to the English Wikipedia, one tagged fish turned up again after 474 days, 6,517 km from where it was tagged.
Enemies: the great white shark, mako sharks and the small cookiecutter sharks, which cut holes in its skin (German Wikipedia); marlins hanging on hooks and in nets are eaten, according to the English Wikipedia, by sharks, pilot whales and orcas.

Spawning in summer, over deep water

To spawn, according to FishBase, it moves into subtropical waters, most of all in early summer, over deep, blue offshore water at 20 to 29 °C; the German Wikipedia gives 24 to 29 °C. As spawning areas, the English Wikipedia names the Gulf of Mexico, the Mona Passage, the waters south-west of Bermuda and north-west of Grand Bahama; the Russian one names the Bahamas, Bermuda and the south-east coast of Brazil — off north-eastern Brazil from April to June. According to the Russian Wikipedia it spawns once a year, and in pairs; mass spawning has never been observed. According to the English Wikipedia a female carries 190,000 to 586,000 eggs, according to the Russian one 418,675 to 877,150. It grows very fast and, according to the English Wikipedia, can live 15 years and longer.

How it is caught — and what you should know

FishBase lists it as a game fish and of minor commercial importance. According to the English Wikipedia, around 90 % of the annual catch is taken as bycatch on longlines and in gillnets set for other fish. The German Wikipedia calls it a famous game fish that stands out in offshore angling for its tremendous leaps; according to the German Wikipedia, longlines catch it only between 25 and 175 metres deep — so targeted protection is possible, because other sought-after fish go deeper. The Finnish Wikipedia says sport anglers admire and fear it: when it strikes, it can tear the rod out of the hands of a careless angler. In the USA, according to the English Wikipedia, catching marlin is allowed only for recreational anglers.

Releasing it is harder than it looks. According to the English Wikipedia, the fight, handling, unhooking and release exhaust a white marlin so much that in up to 32 % of cases it can no longer maintain buoyancy. Circle hooks are recommended, as they can be removed more quickly. In US waters of the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, the fish must stay in the water, alongside the boat; lifting it out of the water raises the risk of death after release by around 30 %, according to research (English Wikipedia: the research is ongoing).

⚠️ What follows is a conclusion drawn from its biology, not a cited source: a fish that hunts above the thermocline in blue water above 22 °C, holds at drop-offs, canyons and current edges and eats small baitfish is to be looked for where warm, deep water meets structure. In the Mediterranean, by everything the sources say, it is a vagrant — anyone who catches a marlin there has, in all likelihood, a Mediterranean spearfish. If you think you have a white marlin: keep it in the water, photograph it — dorsal fin, pectoral fins and the belly at the anal fin —, remove the circle hook, release it. And because the bill can injure: hands off the tip of the bill.

For the kitchen: FishBase calls the meat of excellent quality; it is sold fresh and frozen. The Finnish Wikipedia compares it to veal; the most valuable parts are said to be the longitudinal muscles along the spine. FishBase rates it as harmless. According to the Russian Wikipedia, Greenpeace has put it on its seafood red list — supermarket species with a high risk of overfishing. And according to the Italian Wikipedia, a parasitic copepod, *Gloiopotes ornatus*, can live on it. Minimum sizes, catch limits and discard rules are set by each country — check them locally.

Seven contradictions, left open

Does it occur in the Mediterranean? FishBase, the English and the Russian Wikipedia: only a few stray individuals. The German, Italian and Finnish Wikipedia: rarely in the western Mediterranean. The Dutch Wikipedia: it occurs in the Mediterranean — without qualification.
How threatened is it? FishBase: “Least Concern”, not threatened, assessed on 1 May 2021. The Russian Wikipedia: classified as “Vulnerable” in 2011, back to “Least Concern” in 2022, because the stock had not declined sharply enough over three generations. The English Wikipedia: on the list of threatened species since 2007. The German one: “on the brink of extinction”.
How many rays does the dorsal fin have? FishBase: no spines, 43 to 52 soft rays. The German Wikipedia: 43 to 52 hard rays. The English one: usually 28 to 46. The Russian one: 38 to 46 in the first dorsal fin.
When does it reach maturity? The German Wikipedia: from about 1.3 m. The Russian one: 139 cm (males) and 147 cm (females). The English one: 153.2 cm and 189.9 cm. FishBase: 164 cm, range from 130 cm.
Where does it spawn? The English Wikipedia: in warm, tropical water near the equator — and then names the Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda and the Bahamas, which lie far to the north of it. FishBase: it moves into subtropical waters for this. And the egg count: 190,000 to 586,000 (English) versus 418,675 to 877,150 (Russian Wikipedia).
Loner or group? The English Wikipedia: it mostly keeps to itself. The Portuguese one: a loner that forms pairs only to spawn. The Finnish one: it travels in small schools. The German one: it hunts alone or in loose groups.
How prized by anglers? The German Wikipedia: a famous game fish; the Finnish one: admired and feared; the English one: a million-dollar fishery. The Dutch Wikipedia: in sport fishing it is targeted little.

Five names that lead to the wrong fish

“Speerfisch” and “копьеносец”. The German Wikipedia calls it “diesen Speerfisch” (“this spearfish”) in its text, the Russian one lists it as атлантический белый копьеносец, “Atlantic white spear-bearer”. Spearfishes in the strict sense, however, are the species of the genus *Tetrapturus* — among them the roundscale spearfish it was confused with, and the Mediterranean spearfish. As a second name, the Russian Wikipedia gives the less ambiguous белый марлин, “white marlin”.
“Marlim-azul” and “espadarte-meca”. The Portuguese Wikipedia also lists marlim-azul and espadarte-meca as further names of the marlim-branco. But marlim-azul is the blue marlin, and espadarte is Portuguese for the swordfish. Unambiguous are marlim-branco and, according to GBIF, agulhão-branco.
“Espadon”. In French, GBIF lists it among other names as Espadon — but that is the name of the swordfish, *Xiphias gladius*, to which this series devotes a group of its own. Unambiguous is makaire blanc (de l’Atlantique).
“Aguglia imperiale”. The Italian Wikipedia describes it as “very similar” to the aguglia imperiale — which is the Mediterranean spearfish. And aguglia on its own is the Italian name of the garfish. In Sicilian, GBIF lists Augghia pilligrina and Augghia peddirina for the white marlin. Unambiguous is marlin bianco.
“White” — or “western”? The Japanese name ニシマカジキ literally means “western makajiki”: マカジキ (makajiki) is Japanese for the striped marlin, its sister species from the Indo-Pacific. There is no “white” in it. In Greek, GBIF lists only “Marlinos Atlantikou”, “marlin of the Atlantic” — which could just as well be the blue marlin, to which this series devotes a group of its own.

That leaves the question every article in this series starts with: when. Depth, prey and hunting style are covered above, and they are fixed. What changes every day is everything else — and that is exactly where it is decided whether a day on the water is worth it. That is what StrikeAhead calculates: it takes the conditions on your water and tells you when the trip is worth it. And because you can’t read blue water, edges and current lines from day one, StrikeAhead Pathfinder tells you who to go out with: curated guides and skippers, personally vetted before listing — licence and insurance —, with verified catches instead of promo photos, no paid ranking and, for you as an angler, no booking fee.

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