Marlin

For other uses, see Marlin (disambiguation).

Marlin Temporal range:
File:Atlantic blue marlin.jpg
Atlantic blue marlin (Makaira nigricans)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Carangiformes
Suborder:	Menoidei
Superfamily:	Xiphioidea
Family:	Istiophoridae Rafinesque, 1810
Type genus
Istiophorus Lacépède, 1801
Genera
Istiompax Istiophorus Kajikia Makaira Tetrapturus

Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes between 9 and 11 species, depending on the taxonomic authority.

Name

The family's common name is thought to derive from their resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike.

Taxonomy

The family name Istiophoridae comes from the genus Istiophorus which first placed the species Istiophorus platypterus by George Kearsley Shaw in 1792 from the Greek word ἱστίον istion meaning "sail" that describes the shape of the species's dorsal fins.

Family description

Marlins have elongated bodies, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long, rigid dorsal fin which extends forward to form a crest.

Marlins, an apex predator, are among the fastest marine swimmers. However, greatly exaggerated speeds are often claimed in popular literature, based on unreliable or outdated reports.

The larger species include the Atlantic blue marlin, Makaira nigricans, which can reach 5 m (16 ft) in length and 820 kg (1,810 lb) in weight and the black marlin, Istiompax indica, which can reach in excess of 5 m (16 ft) in length and 670 kg (1,480 lb) in weight. They are popular sporting fish in tropical areas. The Atlantic blue marlin and the white marlin are endangered due to overfishing.

Marlins can change colour, lighting up their stripes just before attacking prey.

Classification

The marlins are Istiophoriform fish, most closely related to the swordfish (which itself is the sole member of the family Xiphiidae). The carangiformes are believed to be the second-closest clade to marlins. Although previously thought to be closely related to Scombridae, genetic analysis only shows a slight relationship.

Extant genera

Istiophoriform genera and species

Image	Genus	Living species	Common name
File:Maind u0 cropped.png black marlin	Istiompax (Whitley, 1931)	Istiompax indica	black marlin
File:Sailfish (Duane Raver).png Atlantic sailfish	Istiophorus (Lacépède, 1801)	I. albicans	Atlantic sailfish
		I. platypterus	Indo-Pacific sailfish
File:Blue marlin (Duane Raver).png Atlantic blue	Makaira (Lacépède, 1802)	Makaira nigricans (Lacepède, 1802)	Atlantic blue marlin
		Makaira mazara (Jordan & Snyder, 1901)	Indo-Pacific blue marlin
File:White marlin (Duane Raver).png white marlin	Kajikia (Hirasaka & H. Nakamura, 1947)	Kajikia albida (Poey, 1860)	white marlin
		Kajikia audax (Philippi (Krumweide), 1887)	striped marlin
File:Longbill spearfish (Duane Raver).png longbill	Tetrapturus (Rafinesque, 1810)	Tetrapturus angustirostris (S. Tanaka (I), 1915)	shortbill spearfish
		Tetrapturus belone (Rafinesque, 1810)	Mediterranean spearfish
		Tetrapturus georgii (R.T. Lowe, 1841)	roundscale spearfish
		Tetrapturus pfluegeri (C. R. Robins & de Sylva, 1963)	longbill spearfish

Fossil genera

Marlins have a continuous fossil record from the Miocene onwards, with the oldest uncontroversial fossil dated to 22 million years ago. It is thought that they probably evolved in the Paratethys Sea.

The following fossil genera are known:

• †Morgula Gracia et al., 2022
• †Pizzikoskerma Gracia, Villalobos-Segura, Ballen, Carnevale & Kriwet, 2024
• †Prototetrapturus Gracia et al., 2022
• †Sicophasma Gracia, Villalobos-Segura, Ballen, Carnevale & Kriwet, 2024
• †Spathochoira Gracia et al., 2022

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Popular culture

File:Welcome to Dare County marlin - Stierch.jpg

A taxidermied marlin greets visitors to Dare County, North Carolina.

In the Nobel Prize–winning author Ernest Hemingway's 1952 novel The Old Man and the Sea, the central character of the work is an aged Cuban fisherman who, after 84 days without success on the water, heads out to sea to break his run of bad luck. On the 85th day, Santiago, the old fisherman, hooks a resolute marlin; what follows is a great struggle between man, sea creature, and the elements.

Frederick Forsyth's story "The Emperor", in the collection No Comebacks, tells of a bank manager named Murgatroyd, who catches a marlin and is acknowledged by the islanders of Mauritius as a master fisherman.

A marlin features prominently in the last chapter and climactic scenes of Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children. Sam's friend Saul gives Sam a marlin, and Sam makes his children help him render the fish's fat.

The Miami Marlins, a professional baseball team based in Miami, Florida, is named after the fish.

In Finding Nemo, Nemo's father's name is Marlin.

See also

• Marlin fishing
• Sailfish

External links

• — news clip discussing discovery that a look-alike fish has been widely mis-identified as white marlin