📸 PhotoPhoto: NOAA · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Blue marlin
Makaira nigricans (Blue marlin · ニシクロカジキ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum weight of 636 kg is just over 40% of a mid-size passenger car (about 1.5 tons) (Comparison).
- 💡 Its maximum length of 5 m is longer than a passenger car (about 4.5 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 In Japan, its fatty flesh is eaten raw as sashimi and fetches a high price (Animal Diversity Web).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The blue marlin is a large fish living in the surface waters of the open ocean far from land, usually staying alone. The IUCN (2022) assessed it as Vulnerable (VU).
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It has a thick, sturdy long bill and a prominent nape, with small file-like teeth lining its jaws and the roof of its mouth. Its back is bluish-black and its belly is silvery white, with about 15 pale blue stripes along its flanks.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
As an apex predator, it charges into schools of prey at full speed, slashes with its bill to stun them, and then eats them. In the North Atlantic, it spawns from July to October, and a single female carries millions of eggs.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is listed as 'Noksaechi' (Korean name) on the National List of Species of Korea, and South Korea is counted among the countries that catch blue marlin.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List VU (2022) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/170314/46936155
- • IUCN Red List category VU — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 3XJWZ
- • iucnredlist.org — 46936155
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000059184 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000059184
- • wikidata.org — Q882668
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Atlantic blue marlin.jpg
- • fishbase.se — Makaira-nigricans.html
- • animaldiversity.org — Makaira nigricans
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Felix Vaux · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Kajikia audax)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.