1. sports
2. fishing

The Fish
and the
Sea
MacMichael Jensen
“Let him think that I am more man than I am
and I will be so1.” Santiago said to the sea during his long battle with a marlin off the
coast of Cuba, after seeing the great fish jump for the first. From Ernest Hemingway’s classic novella, The
Old Man and the Sea, we can begin to understand the kind of man Santiago is; but what of the fish? Where
did he come from, what has shaped his life, and what makes him the battling brother of Santiago? We will
look at Santiago’s descriptions of the fish as well as other scientific texts and descriptions to explore the life
of this fish. And like most great stories we must start at the beginning.
Figure 1: Hemingway with the marlin catch that inspired the Old Man and the Sea
A
tlantic blue marlin or Makaira nigricans spawn through the broadcast method,
Females release their eggs and males deploy their sperm into the open ocean2. This
is known to take place between May and
November near Cuba, but happens all over
the world usually near the coast3. Females
produce 30 to 100 million opaque white/
yellow colored eggs per year depending on
their size and age. A large male will release
around 200 billion sperm. As those sperm
search for a 1 mm egg other predators surround them looking for the same thing to
eat. But, if these two finally find each other
in the vast ocean a fertilization event begins
that lasts one to two days. It is through this
extraordinarily rare happening that we start
the journey and life of our fish.
The larvae that begins to develop is a blue
and black colored minnow, which could fit
on the tip of your finger, its out of proportion
eyes and dorsal fins give it the appearance of
a crazy cartoon fish (Figure 1). The ratio of
these parts will reduce as the fish begins to
mature. Even though they posses some mobility it is limited and they drift through the
ocean at the mercy of the currents, potentially being transported to locations thousands of miles away from where they are
born. They drift along with the plankton in
the ocean’s pelagic zone (top of the water).
During this time they eat, and eat anything
that will fit inside of their disproportionally
large mouths, including other larvae, eggs,
and zooplankton. Their growth rate is rapid and reaches a maximum rate of about 16
mm per day4.
Figure 2: Larval stages of the blue marlin.
As the fish begins to grow in size so will its
taste in food. It will feed most commonly on
mackerel and tuna, but marlins are eclectic
and opportunistic eaters, eating anything
around that will fit in their mouths5. There
are many reports of the huge appetites of
these fish, once a 72-inch white marlin
(around 70 lbs.) was found in the stomach
of a 448 lbs. blue marlin (around 112 inches). As the fish becomes bigger its bill starts
to develop. Some scientists believe that it is
used for feeding, through slashing the prey
items to make them easier to catch6. However, others have said that these marks are
just due to rapid changes in direction of the
swimming marlin. Also, there are marlins
that have been caught and seen surviving
without their bill.
Figure 3 & 4: Atlantic blue marlin larvae
Santiago, the old man in ‘The Old Man and the
Sea,’ is a fisherman in the city Cojimar, Cuba.
He is a proud man with not much to his name
except a small sixteen-foot fishing boat and an
unfurnished room. Santiago’s luck has also run
out, he has not made a catch in 85 days. When
he does fish he uses the hand line fishing method. This is done by tying bait to the hooks and
letting down lines of different lengths into the
water. He uses this method on
the 86th day of bad luck to
meet and battle our monstrous marlin.
Figure 5: Picture of Cojimar, Cuba the setting of the story
As the marlin grows it reaches sexual maturity at about 2 -4 years of age. Males reach
it when they are about 90 lbs. in weight
and females when they are about 115 lbs. in
weight3. At this point sexual dimorphism
becomes evident, females grow at a faster rate and will have a much higher weight
overall. The average male will not be above
350 lbs. when fully grown, but females can
commonly weigh well above 1,200 lbs.7. Females have a faster growth rate to produce
eggs, producing a single egg requires much
more energy than a single sperm. The maximum lifespan for females is also known to
be longer than for males, 27 and 18 years
respectively8. The biggest caught marlin on
official record was made in 1970 in Honolulu, HI it weighed 1,805 lbs. and is know as
Choy’s Monster9 (Figure 3). There are other
reports of a fish bottoming out the scale in
Okinawa, caught by a commercial fisherman
with a hand line, over 2,200 lbs. in weight9.
A marlin’s upper jaw forms the long distinct
bill of the fish. The genus Makaira derives
from the Latin machaera meaning, ‘sword.’
The bill accounts for around 20% of the
fish’s total length. The inside of the mouth
of the fish is covered with these little rough
teeth, much like what you find on a file. The
top half of the marlin’s body is a blue-black
Figure 7: Color of fish and irdophores
Figure 6: Choy’s Monster caught in Honolulu, HI 1805 lbs.
color fading down to a silvery pearl white
underside. This is camouflage, when a predator is above the fish and looks down he sees
only the dark top of the fish and the darkness of the ocean. When a predator looks up
from below the fish he sees the white belly
of the fish mix in with the brightness of the
sun. Across the marlin’s body there are 15
rows of vertical dots that are cobalt in color. The entire body of the fish is covered in
a layer of thick bony scales that have 1 to 2
sharp points on them. Marlins have the ability to change color and will become a darker
blue when hunting9. This is due to pigment
in their scales containing iridophores and
light reflecting cells10. This system works
by having many stacked plates of pigments
that act like light filters, diffracting the light
as it travels through them and changing its
color11. It is through this same effect that the
sky looks blue; it’s called Rayleigh scattering.
Around noon when the sun was high and Santiago’s boat was so far from
shore that it was only a line on the horizon, one of his lines dipped. He holds
the line softly in his hands and the fish begins to nibble on the bait. Santiago can feel every thing that is happening below through the line. He can
feel that the marlin is 100 fathoms (600 ft.) down in the dark water eating
the sardines and tuna on the hook. He knew that the fish must be huge if it
is out this far from shore and still around these waters in the cool month of
September. He knew that it was a male, “He took the bait like a male and he
pulls like a male and his fight has no panic in it1.” As the marlin takes the bait
Santiago can feel the way it holds the bait sideways in its mouth and he gives
it line, waiting for the fish to swallow the hook whole. When Santiago does
strike it doesn’t phase the fish and feels like he is pulling a rope anchored to
a wall. The fish’s pull becomes so great it begins to drag Santiago and his boat
out to sea by strength its great mouth.
Figure 8: Side of marlin jumping
Figure 9: Drawing of the side view of a marlin
Looking at the fins the most notable is the
dorsal, running along the entire top of the
fish. Marlins are in the class actinopterygii
meaning their fins are supported by boney
spines called rays that are connected to the
skeletal system, rather than just fleshy fins.
On each side of the fish behind the gills is the
pectoral fin, which is long and narrow. They
can be put out and act almost like wings on
a gliding airplane, or they can be pulled into
a groove streamlining the fish. This fish is
built to be streamlined, besides the pectoral
fin the first anal fin and the caudal fin have a
groove to fit into on the body of the marlin,
getting rid of almost all its drag. The way a
marlin swims is categorized as subcarangiform, like a shark. It curves its body making
a parentheses shape with its tail and head on
the same side. The Large scythe shaped tail
displaces water side to side propelling the
fish forward12. Its usual speed is about 2-3
km/hr (1.25- 2 mph)13. Marlins have been
recorded at speeds of around 225 cm/s (5
mph) and have been observed catching bait
tied to a boat that was moving at a speed
of 800 cm/s (18 mph)14. It is a continuous
swimmer and has been recorded traveling
40- 70 km (25-45 miles) in a day13.
lins also follow the warm ocean currents for
thousands of miles traveling by the Caribbean. Tagging data has shown that they have
used the warm water currents to make transatlantic journeys from the Virgin Islands to
the Ivory Coast (a 7,000 km or 4300 mile
journey). The fish has the ability to thermoregulate but likes to stay in water with a surface temperature range of about 22- 31 C 16.
Though it is able to dive to a depth of about
1000 ft. it prefers to stay in the area above
the thermocline (the depth of water where
temperature begins to decrease at a rapid
pace)13. In addition to temperature the color
of the water has been shown to affect their
location, preferring strongly blue colored
water17.
The marlin is a blue water fish, spending the
majority of its life in the open sea away from
land9. Marlins have been caught in every
part of the ocean, thousands of miles away
from land. However, places like the Caribbean are such hot spots due to the cannels the
narrowly spaced islands create. The marFigure 10: Diagram of swimming patterns.
This is the description Santiago gives when he first sees the great
fish. “He was bright in the sun and his head and back were dark
purple and in the sun the stripes on his sides showed wide and
a light lavender. His sword was as long as a baseball bat and tapered like a rapier and he rose his full length from the water and
then re-entered it, smoothly, like a diver and the old man saw
the great scythe-blade of his tail go under and the line commenced to race out … He’s over fifteen hundred pounds
the way he is, he thought. Maybe much more. If he dresses out two-thirds of that at thirty cents a pound1? ”
Figure 11: Marlin hooked on a line jumping
2/3’s of 1,500 lbs. is 1,000 at 30 cents a pound this would
come out to 300 Cuban pesos. In 1950 the peso was on
par with the dollar. When you adjust for inflation the buying power would be the same as $2,868.71 in 2012.
Figure 12: Marlin in a market being sold for meat
This fish has not been observed displaying
schooling behavior, it is usually found by itself or with one to two others. The grouping
behavior of the fish is usually seen only in
smaller fish. As they become larger they will
swim solitarily and will be found at the temperate and geographic limits of their habitat17.
The blue marlin occupies a high trophic level
eating many different fish. However, it still
has some very strong predators, large and
small, that prey upon it. These include the
great white shark (Jaws) and the shortfin
mako (The Old Man and The Sea). In addition to the big predators it is also attacked by
smaller parasites. The capsalid monogenean
parasites are worms that attach to the gills
of the fish13. There are also a couple different types of small copepods that attack the
marlin, one looks like a barnacle with a long
flowing tail behind it. This copepod attaches itself with specialized jaws to the marlin’s
body and stays attached, sucking the marlins blood, for the rest of its life. The other
is called barnchiura or fish lice and it lives
on the marlin’s skin eating it and the slime
it produces. This copepod has even been
known to infect humans from touching a
newly caught fish13.
Figure 13: The eye of a marlin
After the fish had pulled Santiago for two days straight it slowly began to weaken. The fight had
also taken almost everything out of Santiago as well. He is malnourished, injured, sleep deprived,
dehydrated, and physical limited due to his age. All these factors are displayed through cramps,
headaches, anorexia, and reduced/distorted vision. He only defeats the fish through his intelligence and will to win. “He is a great fish and I must convince him, he thought. I must never let him
learn his strength nor what he could do if he made his run. If I were him I would put in everything
now and go until something broke. But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them;
although they are more noble and more able1.” When the battle was finally over and Santiago was
tying the fish to his boat he offered this final description of the fish. “The fish had turned silver
from his original purple and silver, and the stripes showed the same pale violet color as his tail.
They were wider than a man’s hand with his fingers spread and the fish’s eye looked as detached as
the mirrors in a periscope or as a saint in a procession1.”
‘“But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated1.”’
We see this portrayed in the novella until the very end as Santiago makes the half-day
trip home from the open sea where the fish had made his last stand. The fish is tied to
the side of his boat dwarfing it in size. We watch as the sharks come slowly at first tearing away the flesh of this beautiful animal. And Santiago does everything he can and
gives all he has left to defend his prize. But, in the end it is not enough and the sharks
begin to come in waves and take till there is nothing left but a skeleton two feet longer
than the skiff. Santiago, after reaching shore, makes his long trek up the hill from the
boat to his room carrying the mast of the boat on his back, tired and destroyed.
Figure 14: Marlin jumping out of the water hooked on a line
Work Cited
1 Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952.
2 Tate, Donnell A. “Blue Marlin and Their Parasitic Passengers.” Lahaina News. N.p., 18 Nov. 2010.
Web. 02 Nov. 2012. <http://www.lahainanews.com/page/content.detail/id/501497/Blue-marlin-and-their-parasitic-passengers.html?nav=21>.
3 Gardieff, Susie. “Blue Marlin.” FLMNH Ichthyology Department: Blue Marlin. FLMNH Ichthyology
Department, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. <http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/BlueMarlin/
BlueMarlin.html>.
4 Prince, E., D. Lee, J. Zweifel, E. Brothers. 1991. Estimating age and growth of young Atlantic blue marlin Makaira nigricans from otolith microstructure. Fishery Bulletin, 89: 441-459
5 Wright, Capt. Peter B. “Blacks and Blues.” Marlin Magazine. Bonnier, 12 Nov. 2007. Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.marlinmag.com/species/fish-species/blacks-and-blues?page=0,0>.
6 Shimose, T.; Yokawa, K.; Saito, H.; Tachihara, K. (2007). “Evidence for use of the bill by blue marlin,
Makaira nigricans, during feeding”. Ichthyological Research 54 (4): 420-422. doi:10.1007/s10228007-0419-x
7 Wilson, C., J. Dean, E. Prince, D. Lee. 1991. An examination of sexual dimorphism in Atlantic and
Pacific blue marlin using body weight, sagittae weight, and age estimates. Journal of Experimental
Marine Biology and Ecology, 151: 209-225
8 Hill, K., G. Caillict, R. Radtke. 1989. A comparative analysis of growth zones in four calcified structures of Pacific blue marlin, *Makaira nigricans*. Fishery Bulletin, 87: 829-843.
9 “Marlin Fishing.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. <http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlin_fishing>.
10 A. Fritsches, Julian C. Partridge,, Kerstin (2000), “Colour vision in billfish”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (The Royal Society) 355 (1401): 1253–6,
doi:10.1098/rstb.2000.0678, PMC 1692849, PMID 11079409, retrieved 2008-01-02
11 “Iridophore.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridophore>.
12 Hebrank, J., J. Hebrank, J. Long, B. Block, S. Wainwright. 1990. Backbone mechanics of the blue marlin *Makaira nigricans* (Pisces, Istiophoridae). Journal of Experimental Biology, 148: 449-459.
13 Tung, Luana. “Makaira Nigricans.” Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan Department of
Zoology, 2003. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. <http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Makaira_nigricans/>.
14 Block, B., D. Booth, F. Carey. 1992b. Direct measurement of swimming speeds and depth of blue
marlin. Journal of Experimental Biology, 166: 267-284.
16 Shomura, Richard, and Frances Williams. Proceedings of the International Billfish Symposium, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, 9-12 August 1972. Seattle: National Marine Fisheries Service, 1974. 28 Feb. 2008.
Web. 2 Nov. 2012. <http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23982>.
17 Nakamura, I. 1985. FAO species catalogue. Vol.5. Billfishes of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of marlins, sailfishes, spearfishes and swordfishes known to date. Rome: United Nations Development Programme Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
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