Divefree

Fish

Wahoo

Acanthocybium solandri

A slender, beak-jawed speedster of the open ocean, barred with blue that fades at death and built for blistering runs on a gamefisher's line.

Wahoo
Photo: Pauline Fey · CC BY-NC 4.0
Typical size
Attains 210 cm fork length and 83 kg
Habitat
Open ocean, epipelagic

The wahoo is a long, streamlined pelagic marked with many narrow vertical bars that fade fast once the fish is landed. Its snout and jaws are drawn out and beak-like, lined with compressed, finely serrated triangular teeth, and the body is covered in small scales without a corselet.

It reaches 210 cm fork length and 83 kg, and is famous among anglers for its explosive speed and searing runs. A solitary, wide-ranging predator, it is one of the most sought-after light-tackle gamefish of warm seas.