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SCHNOZZOLA

The sight of a marlin missing its iconic weapon challenges our

understanding of nature’s adaptability. How can such a predator hunt break in many ways: during hunts, while striking hard objects, through entanglement with man-
made debris, or in battles with other marlin, tunas, sharks, and more. Fishermen have caught sharks,
without its most defining feature? The answer is a compelling study in tuna, and other marlin with broken bills impaled in their bodies. There are witnesses to blue marlin
that have been caught with the broken bill of a white marlin sticking out of their bodies. While its
resilience, adaptation, and the raw tenacity of life in the ocean.

While it may seem like a death sentence, mount- years of underwater observation has revealed
ing evidence from anglers, marine biologists, and that marlin hunt by slashing sideways through
tagging programs is revealing a far more nu- bait balls—tightly packed schools of fish—injuring
anced—and inspiring—truth: marlin can, and of- or stunning multiple prey with each pass allow-
ten do, survive with broken bills. They adapt their ing them to circle back for an easy meal. These
hunting strategies, shift their diets, and exhibit re- high-efficiency strikes give the marlin a competi-
markable resilience that defies expectations. tive edge in the frenzied, chaotic marine buffet of
pelagic life.
Marine biologists have long understood that the
bill isn’t used to impale. High-speed footage and But life in the ocean is far from forgiving. Bills “Against predators or rivals, the bill becomes a shield
as much as a sword, defending with jabs, slashes,

and evasive speed.”

- Dr. Kelsey James | MARINE BIOLOGIST, NOAA

48 F IS H ON! - OCEAN CITY 49