BIG GAME FISH

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 128, 3 June 1927, Page 8

BIG GAME FISH

TWO KINDS OF MARLIN

SCIENTIFIC IDENTIFICATION

b,viim» S«?- ' las been written about big-game hshmg m Now Zealand, few people have t troubled to seek informatioiv regarding swordfisli except from the sporting point of view. This gave some extra interest to a short address giv™ bar Mr. L X. Griffin, of the Auckland Museum, at a meeting of the Auckland Institute on Tuesday (states the "New Zealand Herald';) Mr. Griffin visited Z Bay of Islands in February to study mars'tsr to'arly *°exanuae <™*- The literature on the subject of swordash and gpearfish was very meagre and widely scattered, said Mr. Griffin. As a matter of fact, the most comprehensive ™ ,on. .tho subject was a monograph published in California only last year One reason why the information was scanty wns that the fish were altogether too large for preservation in spirit. The only exhibits to be found in most museums were skins, indifferently mounted, photographs of mutilated specimens, and examples of swords. Only one species of the. broadbill swordnsh, Xyphi&s Gladius, was known, but the spearfish comprised three Genera and a number of species. . Only one genus Makaira, was represented.in New Zealand waters. The other two were distinguished by th« great length and height of the dorsal &vjnd were popularly known as sailfish. After examining specimens, he had no hesitation in identifying the black marliu with Makaira Mazara, a species found as far north as Hawaii, but not m Cahfoniian waters or anywhere off the coast of North America. He was of opinion that the black marlin had been taken in Australia, but that it had been wrongly identified with a fish of the genus Tctraphurus. The so-called giant black inarlin, found off Santa Catalina, California, was not the same as the New Zealand fish. The former had no traces whatever of stripe markings, whereas they were evident in the latter. The New Zealand striped marlin, a smaller fish of lighter colour and more elegant shape, he identified with Makaira Mitsukurii, so named after . a Japanese scientist. This, speces was found from Japan to Hawaii, arid also in California waters, off Santa Barbara. It had not been reported from Australia, but probably it existed there. Both species,. said Mr. Griffin, were summer visitors to New Zealand. His observations showed that, they fed upon kahawai, young dogfish, and trevalli, whereas \he broadbill's food was principally squid. Fish .taken from marlins had often been speared, showing that after being impaled they had been thrown off the spear .and swallowed. The dogfish had not been treated in this way, having apparently been caught on the sea bottom. Many conjectures had been made re- ■ garding the reason why fewer big game fish were about during last season, and it had been suggested that the food supply was low. Actually the food supply had been quite as good as usual. The only explanation seemed • to be that. fewer fish had come to New Zealand.last summer. ' Incidentally, Mr. Griffin ; urged that more systematic, work should be done in searching for new varieties of fish around the New Zealand coast, especially that of the Auckland province, which was very rich in marine life. He showed pictures of several new species discovered by himeslE and others.