Atlantic blue marlin

Atlantic blue marlin
Male
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Istiophoriformes
Family:	Istiophoridae
Genus:	Makaira
Species:	M. nigricans
Binomial name
Makaira nigricans Lacépède, 1802
The range of the Atlantic blue marlin
Synonyms
See below

The Atlantic blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) is a species of marlin that lives in the Atlantic Ocean. It is closely related to, and usually considered the same as, the Indo-Pacific blue marlin, then simply called blue marlin. Some authorities consider both species different.

The Atlantic blue marlin (blue marlin) feeds on a wide variety of animals near the surface. It uses its bill to stun, injure, or kill while moving through a school of fish or other prey, then returns to eat the injured or stunned fish. Marlin is a popular game fish. The high fat content of its meat makes it commercially valuable in certain markets as food. It is the national fish of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and is featured on its coat of arms.

Blue marlin are distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean. A bluewater fish that spends the majority of its life in the open sea far from land,

They are sought after as a highly prized game fish by anglers and are also caught by commercial fishermen, both as a directed catch and as bycatch in major industrial tuna fisheries. Blue marlin are currently considered a threatened species by the IUCN due to overfishing, particularly in the international waters off the coast of Portugal where they migrate to breed in the June/July months. Some other historic English names for the blue marlin are Cuban black marlin, ocean gar, and ocean guard.