Fish Identification Photos: Shortbill Spearfish, Slender Spearfish, Tetrapturus angustirostris: The Shortbill Spearfish is characterized by a slender, dark blue body, silver-white below, and a very short spear extending from its upper jaw that is less than 15 percent of its total body length.

The dorsal fin of the Shortbill Spearfish is high in the front, with a triangular peak that extends to a height greater than the body depth (which is higher than marlins but less than sailfish). The Shortbill Spearfish's dorsal fin is blue with no spots, gradating to blue blotched brown in the posterior sections, and it maintains much of its height throughout its length. The Shortbill Spearfish has short pectoral fins and slender pelvic fins that are twice as long as the pectoral fins. The caudal and pectoral fins are black with white tips; the anal fins are white. A dark single lateral line arches over the pectoral fins. There are no bars or vertical stripes on its sides.

The Shortbill Spearfish is a member of the Xiphiidae family, and it is the rarest, least studied member of the Istiopherinae or Billfish Sub-family which are large oceanic pelagic surface fish found in all tropic and semitropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The Shortbill Spearfish is a tropical and temperate water species normally found above the thermal incline. However it has been observed at depths up to 1 mile. It prefers water temperatures of 20 to 28 degrees Centigrade. It feeds on mackerel, mullet, small tuna, cephalopods and crustaceans. The Shortbill Spearfish is not easy to confuse with other species due to its short sword and wide dorsal fin.

The Shortbill Spearfish is a prized but not targeted species due to its rarity, and it is normally caught only incidentally by swordfish longliners, who in turn sell the fish commercially.

In Mexico, the Shortbill Spearfish is found along the Pacific side of the Baja California Sur peninsula, along the coast of the mainland from Acapulco through to Guatemala, and around all of the oceanic islands. It is absent from the Sea of Cortez, however. It is reported to reach a maximum length of 7.5 feet, and a fish of 115 pounds has been collected commercially. Fish weighing about 35 pounds are normal. The I.F.G.A. All Tackle Record, as of 2004, stood at 74 pounds 8 ounces.

Ryan Yokoyama shows with a Shortbilled Spearfish caught by Bill Hagen in August 2005 about 75 miles west of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Photo courtesy Bill Hagen. Tyler Sterling of Spring Valley, Calif., with a 6 foot 8 inch, 112-pound Shortbilled Spearfish caught off northwest of Ensenada on the Baja California Pacific coast in August 2007 on his boat Lorilynn. Sterling didn't submit the fish for an IGFA record, but the current IGFA all-tackle record was 74 pounds 11 ounces. Photo courtesy of Tyler Sterling.