Black Marlin are amongst the apex predators of the ocean, and for most anglers, they’re at the top of the totem pole in Sport Fishing. Typically, Black Marlin are found in the warm, tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Ocean, but every few years we do get reports of a rogue Black Marlin caught in Atlantic Ocean waters somewhere off of Ascension Island, Western Africa and/or Brazil. All of those are Atlantic regions which are relatively close to the Indian Ocean where the Black Marlin roams freely.
The footage below was actually taken back in 2014 by Nick Filmalter while he was diving off of Ascension Island, but it’s just been uploaded to the web for the first time. This is the first time in history a Black Marlin has been filmed in the Atlantic Ocean. Like I said before, there have been a handful of this elusive species caught in Atlantic waters, but never before now has a Black Marlin been filmed swimming in Atlantic Waters.
For some reason the uploader has set this Vimeo video to private, so you’ll need to enter the password ‘Marlin’ with the ‘m’ capitalized in order to watch this video:
In addition to this being the first time a Black Marlin has ever been filmed in the Atlantic Ocean this is also some of the most wild up-close footage I’ve ever seen of a marlin. It’s just cruising along, slowly, almost as if it’s interested in what the diver (presumably spear fishing) is up to. These fish can reach swimming speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. But this fish is slow, and it really does seem interested in what the diver’s doing on his terrain.
For comparison, Black Marlin can get ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS. Earlier this year, two men caught a Black Marlin weighing 1,135-pounds while fishing off of New Caledonia.
Pretty.
Fucking.
Cool.
(h/t Billfish Report)