Author: Lowe, 1840
Tetrapturus georgei Lowe, 1840
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Tetrapturus georgii Lowe, 1841 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body moderately slender, bill long, rather slender and round in cross-section, nape rising smoothly to dorsal fin origin. Pectoral fins long, much greater than post-orbital part of head; pelvic fins only a little shorter; anterior lobe of first dorsal fin rounded, its height slightly more than body depth, with 43-48 finrays, second dorsal fin with 6-7 finrays; first anal fin with 14-16 finrays, second with 5-7 finrays; anus well in front of first anal fin origin (by about half the height of that fin). Scales on midbody smooth and round, slightly imbricate and soft, usually with 2-3 posterior spines. Colour: back blue-black, flanks and belly silvery. Size: to about 2 m TL.
Habitat: epipelagic, oceanic, probably above the thermocline. Food: believed to be pelagic fishes, crustaceans, cephalopods. Reproduction: little information, thought to be over by early summer.
Distribution: poorly known, but probably northward from Madeira and Morocco to Spain and in western Mediterranean; elsewhere, presumably to the south, but not recorded from western Atlantic.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.
Note. The validity of this apparently very rare species still requires confirmation.