Atlantic blue marlin

Open encyclopedia reference

The Atlantic blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) is a species of marlin endemic to the Atlantic Ocean. It is closely related to, and usually considered conspecific with, the Indo-Pacific blue marlin, then simply called blue marlin. Some authorities consider both species distinct. Blue marlin are distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a bluewater fish that spends the majority of its life in the open sea far from land. The blue marlin preys on a wide variety of marine organisms, mostly near the surface, often using its bill to stun or injure its prey then returning to eat the injured or stunned fish. Females can grow up to four times the weight of males. The maximum published weight is 818 kg (1,803 lb) and length 5 m (16.4 ft). Greater lengths have been claimed unofficially. Estimates of the maximum swimming speed of the blue marlin commonly go as high as 72 km/h, though the casual swimming speed at which it moves most of the time is under 4.5 km/h.

Wikipedia contributors, Atlantic blue marlin; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:01:37.682731+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Makaira nigricans Lacepède, 1802

Name authority

Lacepède, 1802

Common name

Atlantic blue marlin

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Carangiformes

Family

Istiophoridae

Genus

Makaira

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderCarangiformes
11. familyIstiophoridae Rafinesque, 1815
12. genusMakaira Lacepède, 1802
13. speciesMakaira nigricans Lacepède, 1802

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Makaira. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 11 records assigned to Istiophoridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. Lacepède, B. G. E. (1802). Histoire naturelle des poissons: IV. Chez Plassan: Paris, France, v. 4: i–xliv + 1–728, Pl. 1–16. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3XJWZ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.