Indo-Pacific blue marlin (Makaira mazara) is a saltwater species recorded in Taiwan, Malaysia, United States. It is found at depths of 0–200 m.
Scientific name: Makaira mazara · Water: Saltwater
Size: up to 500 cm
The Indo-Pacific blue marlin is an epipelagic billfish that stays mainly on the warmer side of the 24 degree surface isotherm and makes seasonal north-south migrations; it is not usually seen close to land masses or islands unless the shelf drops away steeply, and it remains mostly within the upper 37 m. It is believed to form small schools of at most about ten fish, with larger fish tending to swim alone and smaller ones schooling. It is the most tropical of the billfishes and is common in equatorial waters, and it is a highly migratory species; many scientists, however, do not treat it as distinct from the Atlantic blue marlin, Makaira nigricans. It ranges through tropical and subtropical parts of the Indo-Pacific and sometimes into temperate water, from the surface to about 200 m and from roughly 21 degrees Celsius upward. It reaches about 500 cm total length, commonly 350 cm, and up to about 170 kg, and lives up to about 28 years. It supports commercial fisheries and is a game fish, selling in the high price band, with a trophic level of 4.5, high to very high fishing vulnerability at 70 of 100, very high climate vulnerability at 84, and low resilience.
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