SWORDFISH LIFE CYCLE

"Premiere Big Game Fish of the World's Oceans"

"Deephunter" by Al Barnes

Depicted below are the migratory routes, spawning sites and major feeding areas, as far as they are known, for the north Atlantic swordfish population.� It is reproduced with permission from a Ph.D. dissertation by Arocha (1997). Spawning grounds are represented by shaded ovals, and the highly productive feeding area is represented by the open triangular-shaped figure. Arrows with thick lines originating in the spawning areas depict the direction of movement of juvenile swordfish from the spawning grounds into the nursery areas (i.e., the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and up the east coast of Florida). Arrows with thin lines depict the possible movements of young swordfish from nursery areas to spawning grounds for first time spawners. Annual movement of the adults between the highly productive northern feeding area and the southern spawning areas are shown with thick arrows. The dashed lines represent hypothetical movements and mixing of northwestern Atlantic swordfish with other feeding areas in the eastern tropical Atlantic and spawning grounds of the tropical Atlantic.

SWORDFISH NURSERY AREAS

GO TO: North Atlantic Currents Map Longline Effort Maps Blue Marlin Bycatch Maps White Marlin Bycatch Maps Sailfish Bycatch Maps Congress' Longline Closure Areas Will They Work? Severity of Atlantic Population Declines Headed for Extinction Bluefin Tuna Blue Marlin White Marlin Sailfish Swordfish Sharks Articles on Atlantic Big Game Fish and Fishing Overview "Hunting Giants" "Those Magnificent Giants" "Going, Going, Gone" "Headed for Extinction" Photos of Big Game Fish Index Chambers and Associates Description of the Firm Home List of All Pages on this Website

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Daily "Kill-o-Meter"

Longliners fish most heavily during the periods when the moon is brightest. So, this real-time image of the moon phase shows when the kill of swordfish is greatest and least. It also shows when the kill of blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, sharks, tunas, sea turtles, marine mammals and a host of other marine life is also greatest - even though they are not even targeted. For more, see link above.

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