Istiophorus platypterus (Shaw, 1792)

Fermon, Yves, Bailly, Nicolas, Cardiec, Floriane, Causse, Romain, Chartrain, Emmanuel, Chirio, Laurent, Bruyne, Godefroy De, Deynat, Pascal, Hopkins, Carl D., Lamboj, Anton, Mennesson, Marion I., Beh, Jean-Hervé Mve, Paugy, Didier, Sidlauskas, Brian, Sullivan, John P., Weghe, Jean-Pierre Van De, Vigliotta, Thomas R. & Zee, Jouke Van Der, 2022, An annotated checklist of the fishes of Gabon, Cybium 46 (2), pp. 2-3 : 236

Istiophorus platypterus (Shaw, 1792)

Istiophorus albicans (Latreille, 1804) [Synonym: junior, original� Occurrence: native

Maximum length: 386.3 cm TL; 348 FL

Water type: marine

Environment: pelagic-oceanic

Depth range: 0-200 m

Migration: oceanodromous

IUCN status: LC – Least concern (2011)

Source: preserved, observation

Distribution and remarks: tropical and temperate waters. Atlantic: found approximately 40°N in the north-west Atlantic, 50°N in the north-east Atlantic, 40°S in the south-west Atlantic, and 32°S in the south-east Atlantic. Regularly caught by sport fishermen in high sea of Gabon, or close to the coast of Port-Gentil during the dry season (De Bruyne, pers. obs.). Some authors recognize a single worldwide species, Istiophorus platypterus but some retain the usage of I. platypterus for the Indo-Pacific sailfish and I. albicans for the Atlantic sailfish in recognition of the differences between them. Highly migratory species, Annex I of the 1982 UNCLOS.