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Monday, February 26, 2007
New Species of Billfish Identified; White Marlin Numbers Questioned
 A team of scientists from the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University and NOAA Fisheries Service's Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Miami has confirmed the existence of a new billfish species closely resembling white marlin. This new species, dubbed the roundscale spearfish, looks so much like the white marlin that only DNA testing or trained experts can tell them apart. "The existence of the roundscale spearfish was confirmed by analyzing the shape of its mid-body scales, which are slightly more rounded at one end compared to the scales of all other Atlantic billfish species, and by analyzing its DNA which turns out to be very different from other billfish species," says Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute. As a result of this discovery, previous population estimates for the threatened white marlin are now in serious doubt. More on the new billfish species is available from underwatertimes.com.
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