Striped Marlin
The body of the Striped Marlin is stretched out and compressed. It also have the thinnest bill of any marlin species but the highest dorsal fin, which normally is at least equal to the depth of their body. Distinct from a Black marlin the leaf shaped pectoral fins on a striped marlin can be folded alongside the body. Striped marlin lower jaw is narrow and pointed, whereas blues and blacks have solid, stocky lower jaws. Blue marlin do display stripes too, which may cause confusion with striped marlin at times, but the stripes on a blue fade very quickly when stressed or dead. The bars on a striped marlin remain prominent even after death occurs.
Like most Marlin, Striped Marlin travel the tropical and sub-tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, ranging down as far south as latitude 34 degrees. They are commonly found in water temperatures that ranging from 65 F to 75 F (18 - 23 Celsius) and are the most widely distributed of all billfish. We do know that striped marlin spend most of their time in thermocline which is the upper layer of the ocean just beneath the mixed layer. Striped marlin are a highly migratory species. The striped Marlin can reach 14 feet (4.2 m) in length and 450 pounds (over 200 Kg) but most angler caught Striped Marlin are under 250 pounds (around 100 Kg). The world record is 494 pounds (225 Kg) caught in NZ and the California record for striped Marlin is 339 pounds (153 Kg).
Even though wooden boats have been pierced by the Marlins, the bill of the Striped Marlin is used for defense but more importantly as an aid in capturing food. It swims through schooling baitfish thrashing its bill from side to side stunning and injuring the bait for an easy meal. Fish that are included in the Striped Marlin's diet are anchovies, pilchards flying fish, mackerel and squid.
Blue Marlin
Known for putting up a remarkable fight when hooked, these rare marine species are the holy grail for sport fishers.The Blue Marlin (Makaira nigricans) is the largest trophy billfish and one of the biggest fish in the world. Common size is around 11 ft. (3.5 m) with a weight around 1.980 lbs. (900 kg) However females can exceed 14 ft. The smaller males, grow much slower than females and do not generally exceed 400 lbs. which is the species' average weight. All trophy fish are females. The Blue Marlin are so-called blue-water fish spending most of their lives far out at sea. It can be found worldwide and fishermen everywhere is looking to catch this elusive trophy known for its amazing power and strength.
The cobalt blue body on top, with a silvery white belly, and the upper jaw is famously elongated like a spear. The tail is high and crescent-shaped and the dorsal fin is slightly pointed at the front end. The body is covered in embedded scales which end in one or two sharp points. The lateral line is reticulated, or interwoven like a net, but this characteristic is difficult to see in large specimens. This Marlin is usually found offshore in deep blue tropical and temperate waters. It is known to make regular seasonal migrations, moving toward the equator in winter and away again in the summer months. Additional migrations may span the entire Atlantic.
Yellow Tuna
The Yellow fin Tuna (Thunnus albacares) is designed for speed and endurance. The tuna is the world's hardest running fish providing the angler with a long and demanding fight. One of the most colorful of the Tuna family, the Yellow fin can reach the weight of several hundred pounds. The maximum however is about 150 pounds.
Like other tuna they have football shaped bodies, dark blue or black above with yellow on the sides and fins tinged in yellow with the characteristic yellow finlets. Yellow fin occur in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Yellowfin Tuna are a highly prized game fish. They are schooling fish and considered of all the tunas commercially. Tuna are pelagic fish that live in the open oceans of this world. Surprisingly the relatively recent addition of deep sea oilrigs has given these open water fish something to relate to even when in 3000' of water. Schools of tuna will sometime set up residence on the structure for weeks at a time. Tuna are most commonly caught in water at least 500' deep off the Louisiana coast.
There are a few primary ways that these fish are caught. One is by chumming the fish to the boat and then hoping to get one to eat a piece of chum drifted back with a hook in it. Another is to troll baits both natural and artificial behind a boat. Dropping diamond jigs down deep and jigging them up and down with long sweeps of the rod can often produce when the fish are deep and only surface briefly before retreating to the cooler deeper waters. Probably the most exciting way to catch tuna is casting surface popper baits and probably the most efficient method is to slow troll live hard tails behind the boat.
Wahoo (Ono)
The Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri ) is a razor toothed predator that relies on speed. It is one of the fastest fish in the ocean and has bright blue bands that light up when the Wahoo feeds.
Wahoo tend to be year-round residents in tropical waters, but they expand their range to more northern latitudes during the summer months. More exactly they are found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. In the Pacific, Wahoo are found between 46° N-35° S latitude.
Wahoo are covered with small scales and are steel blue above and pale blue below. It has a series of 25 to 30 irregular blackish-blue vertical bars on the sides. The Wahoo fish has a large mouth with strong, triangular, compressed and finely serrate teeth. Its snout is about as long as the rest of the head. The maximum reported size for Wahoo is 158 pounds (IGFA World Record). Wahoo commonly attain sizes between 40 and 65 inches in length, with maximum size reaching 98 inches. Wahoo are greedy predators, feeding on mackerels, butterfishes, porcupine fishes, round herrings, scads, jacks, pompanos, and flying fishes. They generally compete for the same kind of food as highly migratory tuna.