Atlantic sailfish

sailfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Istiophoridae
Genus:	Istiophorus Lacépède, 1801
Species:	I. albicans
Binomial name
Istiophorus albicans (Latreille, 1804)

The Atlantic sailfish, Istiophorus albicans, is a species of marine fish in the family Istiophoridae of the order Perciformes. It is found in the Atlantic Oceans and the Caribbean Sea, except for large areas of the central North Atlantic and the central South Atlantic, from the surface to depths of 200 m. The Atlantic Sailfish is related to the Marlin.

Tests in the 1920s estimated that they were capable of short sprints of up to 111 kilometres per hour, however, a more conservative estimates of 37 to 55 kilometres per hour are more widely accepted .

Atlantic sailfish hunt schooling fish, such as sardines, anchovies and mackerel although they also feed on crustaceans and cephalopods.

Description

The Atlantic sailfish is a metallic blue fish with a large sail-like dorsal fin, long and pointed bill. It is darker on the upperparts and lighter on the sides (counter-shading), with bluish vertical bars along the flanks; the underparts are silvery white.

Length is up to 3.15 m and the maximum published weight is 58.1 kg.

References

• "Istiophorus albicans". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=550888. Retrieved 6 June 2006. 
• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Istiophorus albicans" in FishBase. January 2006 version.

External links

• Video clips from the BBC