Sharks Species
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Mako |
| The Mako was made legendary in Ernest Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea. Due to it's acrobatic ability, beauty and aggressiveness, the Shortfin Mako is considered one of the greatest game fishes in the world. The Mako can be found in tropical and temperate waters throughout the world's oceans. The Mako is a metallic blue on top, with white on it's belly. The line of demarcation between the blue and white is apparent. The mako feeds mostly on bluefish, but will feed on any fast moving pelagic fish. |
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Thresher |
| The Thresher can be found in tropical and cold-temperate waters throughout the world. While most often observed far from shore, it can wander closer to land searching for food. The Thresher, while considered a game fish is not known to be as aggressive as the mako. These sharks can be distinguished by the long upper lobe of the caudal fin. Occasionally the fin can be as long as the body, and tends to make the tail look "whip like". They are usually dark brown and slate gray, but can even be black. The underside is white, and they have dark spots near the pelvic fin. Threshers feed mostly on Bluefish and Butterfish. |
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Blue Shark |
| Blue Sharks are found in temperate and tropical waters worldwide. They are most likely to remain in open ocean areas far from shore. They prefer cooler water between 44.6-60.8 F degrees, but can tolerate warmer water. The Blue shark has a long, sleek looking body. This shark's name comes from the darker blue dorsal area, and bright blue sides. The belly has a distinct, bright white color. Their main diet consists of small bony fishes such as squid. |
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Hammerhead |
| The Smooth Hammerhead can be found worldwide in temperate waters. They prefer shallow waters less than 65 feet deep, and live closer to shore. The Hammerhead sometimes forms schools in the summer and migrate northward to cooler waters, returning south in the winter. Adults and juveniles can occasionally be spotted swimming along the surface with their dorsal fins exposed during the hot summer months. The body of this shark ranges from a dark olive to brownish-gray in color with a white belly. Their diet consists mostly of skates and stingrays. |
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Offshore species
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Swordfish |
Can be found worldwide in temperate and tropical seas. They head for colder waters in the summer, and warmer waters in the winter.
They are dark gray to black becoming gray to yellowish below. They have flattened bills, no fins on the belly. This species has no teeth or scales. |
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Marlin |
| The Marlin is a large fish, with an elongated body and a spear like snout. It has a long rigid dorsal fin that forms a crest. Their upper body is dark blue to brown, with a silvery underside and blue vertical bars on the sides. They are fast swimmers, and can be found in all seas, but primarily in the temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean. They tend to stay closer to the surface, and feed on pelagic fishes such as mackerels, tunas and dolphin fishes. |
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White Marlin |
Occurring in the Atlantic Ocean, its distribution is limited by temperature, so its boundaries vary throughout the year; it is found in the northern and southern extremes of its range only in the respective warm season. White marlin do travel long distances, but they do not perform the transoceanic migrations of related species.
The white marlin is usually found in water over 325 feet (100 m) deep. It generally swims above the thermocline, in water of surface temperatures above 71 F degrees. White marlins do not tend to travel in schools, but are usually observed swimming alone or in pairs.
The body is dark blue above and silvery white below, with brown spots on the sides of the white. Occasionally, many rows of blurred white lines may run the length of the body. The first dorsal fin is dark blue with many black spots, although these may fade towards the back of the fin. The second dorsal and pelvic fins are dark blue; the pectoral fins and caudal fin are blackish brown; the pectoral fins may be tipped in white. As with many istiophorids, color changes in response to level of excitement.
White marlin appear to be sight-oriented, daytime feeders. They often feed near fronts, the edges between water bodies of differing temperatures or salinities. These areas produce nutrient-rich upwellings, drawing bait fish, and are successful feeding areas for the white marlin and other predatory fishes. |
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Blue Marlin |
Geographical Distribution
The blue marlin is found primarily in the temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean. Occurring offshore in oceanic waters, the blue marlin tends to stay in the warm waters near the surface, above the thermocline. They follow the seasonal water temperature changes, being closely tied to these warm waters. They are found in ocean waters great distances from the continents as well as coastal regions near deep waters, such as near the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico.
The blue marlin is the largest billfish. The upper jaw forms a large bill. The body is dark blue on top, shading to a silvery white underneath. On the body there are 15 vertical rows of blue spots on the side.
Blue Marlin are not known to feed at night. Their diet consists of mackerels, tunas, and dolphin fishes. |
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Black Marlin |
| The Black Marlin can be found in temperate waters, from 68-86 F degrees.
Prefer to swim with warm current, whether in the open ocean, or closer to shore.
The Black Marlin is dark blue or black on top, with a silvery white belly. The dorsal fin is lavender, while the fins and tail are electric blue. |
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Tuna |
| The Bluefin Tuna can be found in a large range of temperatures, and down to depths of 3,000 feet. Schools migrate seasonally northward during the summer months. They exhibit a strong schooling behavior when young. The bluefin is one of the largest tunas, with a longer head and somewhat pointed snout. They are blue metallic on top and the lower sides and bottom are a silvery white. They tend to feed on schooling fishes, particularly anchovies. |
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Yellowfin Tuna |
Yellowfin tuna are found throughout the world in tropical and subtropical waters. The Yellowfin is an oceanic fish, living in temperatures of 65 to 88 F degrees. Yellowfin are strong school ers. They have a tendency to school more often by size than species. Their tendency to school with organisms of the same size is stronger than the tendency to school by species. They often swim in schools of bigeye and other tunas. It has been found that Yellowfin swimming further from the surface tend to scatter and are less likely to school.
The yellowfin is a large tuna. The body is metallic dark blue or greenish above, while the belly and lower sides are silvery white and crossed by many vertical, interrupted lines. Perhaps most distinctly, a golden stripe runs along the side. The second dorsal and anal fins and finlets are bright yellow, and the finlets are bordered by a narrow band of black. |
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Albacore Tuna |
Albacore occur worldwide in temperate seas and can be found in the cooler tropical waters. The Albacore is always seeking the best feeding and spawning grounds.
The body of the Albacore is cigar shaped. The mouth is fairly large.
The color is dark gray to metallic blue on the back becoming white to gray below. Albacore are easily distinguished from the other tunas by the extreme length of their pectoral fins (they extend well past the anal fin). The food of the albacore consists mostly of small fishes, but at times squid, octopus, shrimp-like and crab-like organisms. The albacore is one of the world's fastest migrant fish. Annual trans-Pacific migrations have been documented by tagging. Fish tagged off California were captured off Japan, nearly 5,000 miles away, 294 days later. |
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Big Eye Tuna |
Big eye tuna (or big eye) are oceanic fish. Geographic distribution is limited by temperature and oxygen concentrations. They have a greater tolerance to lower temperature and oxygen levels than other tunas, therefore, they tend to occupy deeper waters.
Big eye tuna can be easily distinguished by their noticeably larger eyes, hence the name. They have moderately long pectoral fins and yellow dorsal and anal fins.
Young big eye tuna are often confused with yellowfin tuna of the same size, however, the size of the eye and length of the anal fin separates these species. |
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Inshore Species
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Striped Bass |
| Striped bass can be caught using a number of baits including: clams, eels, anchovies, bloodworms, nightcrawlers, chicken livers, menhaden, herring, shad, and sandworms. At times, striped bass can be very choosy about the baits they take. Because of the wide variety of baits that are known to work and their finicky nature, they are considered among fishermen as being an opportunistic or "lazy" feeder. However, it is estimated that 90% of their diet is fish. |
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Bluefish |
| Bluefish travel in schools. You can usually catch several at a time. In the summer, large schools migrate north. Most commonly a sea-green color on top, blending into a silvery shade on it's lower sides and belly. Adult bluefish has a stout body and large mouth that extends below and beyond the eye. The lower jaw juts out, and both the upper and lower jaws have conically shaped canine teeth. Its habitat include both inshore and offshore areas of coastal regions. |
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Black Sea Bass |
These fish are unusual, most of them are hermaphroditic, reproducing both as female and male at some time in their lives.
Inhabits the coasts from Maine to Florida, but are most abundant off the waters of New York. They can be found in bays and sounds and offshore in waters up to a depth of 130 m. They spend most of their time close to the sea floor. Congregate around bottom formations including wrecks, rocks, piers and jetties. Sea Bass are usually black, but they have the ability to adjust their color to blend in with the bottom. Their colors may take on a gray, brown, black or even a deep indigo hue. |
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Fluke |
The summer flounder or (also known as Fluke), have a migratory pattern opposite that of winter flounder. Fluke migrate to offshore waters 200 to 500 feet deep during winter. When the water is warmer, during the summer they move to shallow waters inshore. Fluke are a popular favorite with recreational summer fisherman because of it's versatility in the kitchen.
All founder species have a similar shape, and have eyes on one side of it's head. This allows the fish to rest on the ocean floor and look upward. The side of the fish that has the eyes is pigmented in different variations depending on the species. The eyeless side lacks pigment and is much lighter. |
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Fresh Water Species
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Largemouth Bass |
| A solitary fish that spends its time around weedy drop offs, ledges, overhanging banks, docks, structure. Black on back to green on the sides with black vertical bars. In the winter can be found in deeper water near the bottom. A 7-8 year old is generally 18-19 inches. It's habitat is shallow warm weedy lakes, ponds and slowly moving streams and backwaters. Will take almost any bait that seems alive. |
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Small mouth Bass |
| A solitary fish. Can be found around rocky ledges, in 3 to 20 feet of water. It is brownish bronze with black spots. In the winter it heads for deeper water. It's habitat is cool clear gravel bottom lakes, ponds and streams, with no weeds. They usually feed in low-light conditions and are successfully caught at night. |
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Brook Trout |
| Brookies or Squaretails live in a wide range of waters. They can be found in waters with stocked fish, or remote waters as well. It is greenish brown with yellow and red spots on it's sides and orange lower fins. It's habitat is unpolluted cold water brooks, rivers and lakes. Fishing with worms is usually successful. If fishing in the summer go in early morning because they require a water temperature of less than 65 degrees. |
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Rainbow Trout |
| Prefers fast flowing waters that are below 68 degrees. It is identified by it's olive green back and pink or red band on it's sides. It has black spots, but only on it's upper body. It's habitat is either cold water streams or lakes, but always fast water. |
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Yellow Perch |
| Very common in New England. It has a yellow to gold body with black bars on the side. Smaller Yellow perch will stay in shallow water while the larger ones move into deeper water. It's habitat is weedy lakes and slow moving water or rivers. |
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