Striped Marlin Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Long, spear-like bill on a streamlined, laterally compressed body
• Very tall, pointed first dorsal fin, taller than the body is deep, colored vivid cobalt blue
• Around 15 pale blue-white vertical stripes running down each flank, visible even after death
• Pointed pectoral fins that fold flat and flush against the sides of the body
• Dark blue-black back fading sharply to a bright silvery-white belly

Common look-alikes

• Blue marlin: dorsal fin is rounded and shorter than the body's depth, stripes are fainter and often broken, and the body is noticeably bulkier
• White marlin: much smaller in overall size, with rounded rather than pointed dorsal and pectoral fin tips
• Sailfish: carries an enormous, sail-like dorsal fin that runs almost the full length of the back, unlike the marlin's tall but narrower fin

Where you'll see one

Striped marlin patrol open, temperate-to-tropical surface waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, favoring current edges and temperature breaks well offshore where baitfish schools gather, and rarely enter shallow coastal water.