Sailfish

For other uses, see Sailfish (disambiguation).

Sailfish
Temporal range: 59–0 Ma Paleogene to present[1]
Atlantic sailfish
Indo-Pacific sailfish

Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
(Note that the IUCN recognises one sailfish species)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Carangiformes
Family: Istiophoridae
Genus: Istiophorus
Lacépède, 1801
Type species
Scomber gladius
(G. Shaw, 1792)
Species
Synonyms
  • Histiophorus G. Cuvier, 1832
  • Nothistium Hermann, 1804
  • Zanclurus Swainson, 1839
An Indo-Pacific sailfish raising its sail
Author Ernest Hemingway in Key West, Florida, USA, in the 1940s, with a sailfish he had caught

The sailfish is one of two species of marine fish in the genus Istiophorus, which belong to the family Istiophoridae (marlins). They are predominantly blue to gray in colour and have a characteristically large dorsal fin known as the sail, which often stretches the entire length of the back. Another notable characteristic is the elongated rostrum (bill) consistent with that of other marlins and the swordfish, which together constitute what are known as billfish in sport fishing circles. Sailfish live in colder pelagic waters of all Earth's oceans, and hold the record for the highest speed of any marine animal.

  1. ^ "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. 2002. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  2. ^ Collette, B.; Acero, A.; Amorim, A.F.; et al. (2022). "Istiophorus platypterus". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T170338A46649664. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022.RLTS.T170338A46649664.en (inactive 1 November 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)