Mahi-mahi
Apart from its minimal population, these Mahi-mahi fish are a fast-growing fish, but it only lives for not more than five years. Their social behavior ranges from living alone, in pairs, or with groups.
What Type Of Fish Is Mahi-mahi? Mahi-mahi fish is also known as dolphin fish or Dorado. The word Mahi-mahi comes from the Hawaiian word, which means “strong-strong.” Mahi-mahi fish is open water, blue-water, and highly migratory fish, mostly found in the tropical and subtropical waters in the world.
It is observed that young Mahi-mahi is used to living with a school of mahi-mahi fish. Also, older fish practice living alone or living with a pair for reproduction.
| Living Environment | Behavior and Genetics |
| Tropical and Subtropical Waters | Fast-Growing Fish |
| Open Water | 5-Year Life Span |
| Younger Fish Live In Schools | Migratory Fish |
| Older Fish Live Alone | Grow Up To 6′ and 77lbs |
| Live In Water As Deep As 279′ | Have A Mild Fish Taste |
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Origin Of Mahi-mahi Fish
Mahi-mahi has the scientific name of Coryphaena hippurus. Dolphin fish is the common name of Mahi-mahi. However, these fish are not related to all marine mammal dolphins.
Carl Linnaeus originally described the dolphin fish as Coryphaena hippurus. There are two species of dolphinfish; the common dolphinfish or Coryphaena hippurus and the pompano dolphinfish or Coryphaena equiselis.
Mahi-mahi is derived from a Polynesian Language, which the United States used to describe their fish. People tend to be confused with this mammal because it has the same names as others, increasing their fear that they might be eating Flippers.
In other countries, dolphin fish is also known as Dorado, which comes from the Spanish word, means “golden.”
Features Of Mahi-mahi Fish
Mahi-mahi fish are one of the favorite fish of anglers because of their beautiful appearance. Mahi-mahi can be found in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. Most mahi-mahi fish have electric hues like green, yellow, and blues.
Appearance
Mahi-mahi fish has a distinct feature when it comes to their appearance. It has a blunt or rounded head, a yellow-colored body, and has a forked tail. There are sparkling spots of the color blue and green on its back and sides.
This fish has blue dorsal fins from the head that extends up to the tail.
Mahi-mahi has two fins on the underside of its head and another two fins on its sides. The scales that cover the whole body of Mahi-mahi are called cycloid scales. Its body depth and appearance can easily distinguish the common dolphinfish and pompano fish.
Color
The color scheme of Mahi-mahi comes with a combination of golden shades and metallic colors or green and blue on the sides and color yellow and white on the undersides. These fish can easily catch the attention of every angler or swimmer because of their bright colors.
They are colorful underwater, but once they are caught and scoop out from the water, they become silvery in color, and start the color starts to fade.
Dentition
Mahi-mahi fish have distinguished largemouths. They have fine teeth that are arranged in bands. Some of the dolphin fish have small and oval tooth patch that covers half of their tongue, and some have large and square tooth patch that is mostly covering the width of their tongues.
Food Habits
Mahi-mahi fish have different food habits. They eat or prey according to the size of an individual and in the season. Mahi-mahi mostly feeds during daylight on some small oceanic fish such as triggerfish and flying fish.
They also feed on the juveniles of pelagic fish such as billfish, mackerels, and tunas and feed on benthic fish’ pelagic larvae such as grunts and pufferfish. They also feed on the invertebrates like crabs and cephalopods.
Growth, Age, and Size
Mahi-mahi fish are known to be a large type of fish. It can reach a maximum length of 6 feet or 2 meters. It weighs between 30 pounds or 14 kilograms to 65 pounds or 30 kilograms.
It was recorded that in Florida waters, there was a Mahi-mahi that weighs 77 pounds or 35.2 kilograms. Mahi-mahi is considered sexually matured when they reached around four to five months old.
Reproduction
The reproduction of the spawning season of Mahi-mahi fish is long. But multiple spawning in a year happens in both males and females. Based on studies and observations, dolphin fish are mostly spawning during warmer months.
Larvae are scattered and found in tropical and subtropical waters across the world.
It starts to hatch with a 4mm length of larvae and reaches 5.7mm in four to five days. The larvae reach 15mm long after 15 days. Juvenile dolphin fish are fully developed when their body has marks of dark and light colors and if it reaches 10-20mm long.
Lifespan
Mahi-mahi can easily reproduce their offspring because they begin to spawn when they are around 4 to 5 months. However, the lifespan of Mahi-mahi is just about four to five years.
Conservation of Mahi-mahi Fish
Condition
With its fast-growing rates, low maturity age, and high reproductive capabilities, Mahi-mahi becomes resistant to overfishing in South Atlantic fisheries and the Gulf of Mexico.
The supply of locally caught dolphin fish in the market becomes limited because of its high demand in the fish industry. Mahi-mahi fish with a bodyweight of 15 pounds and up are caught by trollers to sell in the market.
Habitat
Generally, Mahi-mahi or dolphin fish are found under some floating objects like ships. They are known to hang out and follow large ships. They are also located near the coast with a ranging depth from 0-279 feet.
Conclusion
This type of fish is also one of the best fish hunters or anglers because of its beautiful and fancy appearance. The current status of Mahi-mahi or dolphin fish in Hawaii is stable and fished sustainably.
There were no reports that appeared about the overfishing of this kind of species in the Hawaiian fisheries. However, Mahi-mahi fish are famous because it is commercially available.
Apart from being a colorful fish, it is also considered part of the seafood restaurants because of its firm, fresh and mild taste.
This fish is nutritious because it contains an excellent source of high protein and low fat and sodium content.
