Elsevier

Fisheries Research

Volume 44, Issue 1, November 1999, Pages 95-100
Fisheries Research

Short communication
Diet of blue marlin Makaira mazara off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-7836(99)00053-3Get rights and content

Abstract

Analysis of the stomach contents of 204 blue marlin (Makaira mazara) caught by the sport-fishing fleet of Cabo San Lucas in the southern Gulf of California is presented. The specimens sampled were caught during the summer and fall of 1987, 1988, and 1989 when the sea is warm (28–30°C). Blue marlin were found to feed on 35 prey species, 3 of which represented 90% of the total stomach contents by frequency of occurrence. The main prey were epipelagic organisms from the oceanic zone and demersal fishes from the neritic zone. The most important prey were bullet mackerel Auxis spp., young finescale triggerfish Balistes polylepis, and the giant squid Dosidicus gigas.

Introduction

The Indo-Pacific blue marlin Makaira mazara (Jordan and Snyder) is a large predatory marine fish widely distributed through the Pacific and Indian ocean and abundant in tropical regions (Nakamura, 1985; Joseph et al., 1988). Along the coast of Mexico and especially near Cabo San Lucas, three species of billfish, blue marlin, striped marlin Tetrapturus audax (Philippi), and sailfish Istiophorus platypterus Shaw and Nodder are commonly caught. Deep waters occur relatively close to Cabo San Lucas, which brings these billfish within range of an active sport-fishing fleet.

Despite the popularity of blue marlin as a game fish because of its large size (up to 625 kg) and spectacular acrobatics when caught on rod and reel, little is known of their trophic biology in the eastern Pacific ocean. Only one study has been done, Eldrige and Wares (1974)identified the stomach contents of 15 blue marlin caught by sport fishermen off Buena Vista, Baja California Sur, Mexico during 1970.

The purpose of this study was to expand the understanding of the seasonal changes in the diet and feeding behavior of blue marlin, which because of size and speed is considered one of the top predators in the trophic web in the ocean off the coast of Mexico.

Section snippets

Methods

Blue marlin were caught by trolling with live bait, mainly chub mackerel Scomber japonicus and jacks Caranx spp., or with jigs by the sport-fishing fleet out of Cabo San Lucas, BCS (22°53′ N, 109°54′ W) (Fig. 1). Stomachs were sampled in port during summer and fall of 1987, 1988, and 1989. Each marlin was weighed to the nearest kg and its postorbital length (eye-fork length) measured to the nearest cm. The stomach contents were removed and fixed in 10% formalin.

The stomach contents in each

Results

The size of the blue marlin analyzed ranged from 188 to 290 cm postorbital length (PL) (mean=221.5±19.8 cm standard deviation), with weights between 88 and 334 kg (mean=175±54.7 kg). Two hundred and four stomachs were examined; 176 (86.3%) contained food, 19 (9.3%) were empty, and 9 (4.4%) had regurgitated their contents. There were 35 prey species identified; 7 cephalopods, 2 crustaceans, and 26 fish.

Osteichthyes (fish) was the major food group eaten by the blue marlin by volume (89.6%), number

Discussion

The diversity of prey species found in blue marlin stomachs in this study (35 prey species identified) implies an opportunistic predator feeding on forage from various trophic levels and with a wide range of prey size and morphology. This last conclusion was also reported for Hawaiian blue marlin examined by Brock (1984). However, in spite of consuming a large number of species, this predator selects a reduced number of prey of the epipelagic (more than 80% originate in this environments) and

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Robert J. Olson of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, and Kim Holland of the University of Hawaii for comments and review of this manuscript. Thanks to Ellis Glazier, CIBNOR, for editing the English-language text. Thanks are also to extended to Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologı́a and Instituto Politecnico Nacional (COFAA) for their support.

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