IDENTIFICATION The general body colour is cobalt blue and black with lighter vertical stripes. This fish has a slender round bill and the lower jaw is fairly long and straight. The tapered pectoral fins can fold flat against the body. The tail is sickle shaped and there is no visible lateral line.
DISTRIBUTION They are distributed throughout tropical, sub-tropical and temperate waters of the Indo-Pacific and are normally found in relatively shallow coastal waters less than 90 m deep. They undertake extensive migrations, moving towards the equator in winter. The migration patterns are highly variable but it appears that they return to the same sites for spawning. They are densely distributed in the Arabian Sea around Sri Lanka and in the Mozambique Channel, extending to the south-western Cape in summer.
FEEDING A day time feeder, the diet of the striped marlin includes anchovies, sardines, mackerel and flying fish.
REPRODUCTION The fish first become mature in their second year at about 150 cm fork length at 20 kg. In KwaZulu-Natal the females appear to dominate catches (3 females to 1 male). Spawning occurs in mid-summer. Larvae have been found between the latitudes of 10oS and 18oS in the western Indian Ocean during mid-summer.
GROWTH Striped marlin reach at least 350 cm total length and the maximum recorded weight is 206 kg. They are known to live to at least eight years.
FISHERY This is an important commercial and recreational species throughout its distribution but is only moderately important in the KwaZulu-Natal sport fishery. Most catches in KwaZulu-Natal are during November and December by ski-boat anglers. The Indian Ocean commercial fishery accounts for 2130 metric tons per annum - 13% of the world catch. The catch rate for the Pacific fishery shows a long term decline of about 50%.
