Divefree

Fish

White Marlin

Kajikia albida

A slim, oceanic billfish with rounded fin tips and a light blue-green back, an uncommon prize in warm KZN offshore water.

Also known as wit marlyn

White Marlin
Photo: Antonio Amaral · CC BY-NC 4.0
Typical size
Commonly 1.5-2.2 m
Habitat
Warm open ocean and offshore current lines
Depth
Surface to about 100 m

The white marlin is the smallest and most lightly built of the marlins, distinguished by the rounded tips of its dorsal, pectoral and anal fins and a pale, greenish-blue back fading to silvery-white flanks often crossed by faint pale bars. It roams warm open ocean, feeding on fish and squid near the surface.

Off South Africa it is an uncommon visitor to the warm offshore water of the KwaZulu-Natal coast and the Agulhas Current, encountered mainly by offshore game anglers rather than divers. As a highly migratory billfish under pressure worldwide, it is generally handled as a tag-and-release species.