Those OTHER FISH
by Chris Scheblie
Atlantic Needlefish
The Atlantic Needlefish, Strongylura marina, is
one of the most common inhabitants of our inshore
waters. You see them everywhere; they’re ubiquitous
in almost every corner of the marsh. Anglers often ask
me what are those small “garfish-looking” fish that
swim up steal my bait or rip the tail off my plastic lure?
They belong to the family Belonidae, composed of
thirty two species of Needlefish worldwide, with several of those species occurring off Louisiana waters.
The Atlantic needlefish is a small to medium-sized, silvery colored fish
having a cylindrical
body shape. They
often appear somewhat gar-like in profile but are actually
more closely related
to flying fish (Family
Exocoetidae). The
Atlantic needlefish is a carnivorous fish having the
upper and lower jaws elongated into a pointed beak
armed with hundreds of small, sharp teeth. Body coloration is greenish to blue-green above and silvery
below and the body is covered with small scales.
The Atlantic needlefish is wide-ranging, occurring
in the western Atlantic from Maine to southern Brazil,
throughout the coastal Gulf of Mexico, and the western Caribbean Sea, including Cuba and Jamaica. It
also occurs in a number of coastal rivers and streams
and is capable of ascending well upstream into fresh
water. Needlefish have been documented ranging as
far north in Gulf Coast river drainages as upper Tennessee. Fuller (2008) indicated that Atlantic needlefish
also occur as an introduced species within portions of
the Tennessee River drainage basin in Alabama and
Tennessee due to an artificial canal that that was
opened in 1985. Interestingly, it appears that Needle-
fish have adapted to their introduced freshwater environment and have been found to be capable of reproducing entirely in freshwater, even though they are not
classified as diadromous (fish that spend portions of
their life cycles partially in fresh water and partially in
salt water for purposes of reproduction). Adults with
well-developed eggs and juveniles have been collected in northern Alabama rivers providing evidence
that Atlantic needlefish can reproduce in freshwater,
(Boschung 1992, Mettee et al. 1996). There are exam-
ples of several other species of exclusively freshwater
needlefish throughout the world.
Coincidently, small larval Needlefish have an
elongated lower jaw and a reduced upper jaw resembling a Halfbeak or Ballyhoo in appearance because
they are all members of the same order, Beloniformes,
sharing similar developmental characteristics. The flying fish family, Exocetidae, also belongs to the same
order, Beloniformes, making Needlefish and flying fish
distantly related to each other. This probably explains
some of the startle behavior seen in Needlefish where
they skip along the surface of the water when making
a hasty exit. Needlefish are swift predators that utilize
a ram-feeding, active pursuit predation strategy, similar to that of garfish or barracuda. Juvenile Needlefish
forage primarily on small shrimp and amphipods.
Subsequently, however; a diet shift occurs as the
Needlefish grows and they become almost exclusively
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piscivorous feeding on fish for the rest of their lives.
Boughton et al. (1991) reported that the diet shift occurred when the larval Needlefish transitions to a juvenile and the mouth morphology subsequently
changes from the halfbeak-like upper jaw to a full
upper and lower jaw.
Strongylura marina and other needlefish are common
components in the diets of large piscivorous fish such
as tarpon, Megalops atlanticus, and Davis (2010), reported them as a component in the diet of juvenile
lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris). They are not
really a component of the commercial fishery except
for being mainly caught as a bait source for marlin
sport fishing and most likely make up a certain component of by-catch in other commercial fisheries.
Needlefish are not really sought after as a sport fish of
any kind or for consumption. They are often considered a bait stealer by recreational anglers. The International Game Fish Association reports a maximum
total length for the species as 44 inches and a maximum published weight of 5.2 pounds, although most
specimens are much smaller than this. There is no
Louisiana State record listed for Needlefish.
Boschung HT. 1992. Catalogue of freshwater and marine fishes of
Alabama. Alabama Museum of Natural History Bulletin 14:1-266.
Boughton DA, Collette BB, and AR McCune. 1991. Heterochrony
in jaw morphology of needlefishes (Teleostei: Belonidae). Zoology
40:329-354.
Davis, Christopher, "Prey Selection by Young Lemon Sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) at Chandeleur Island Nursery Habitats with a
Comparison to Three Other Co-Occurring Shark Species" (2010).
University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1281.
Fuller P. 2008. Strongylura marina. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic
Species Database, Gainesville, FL. Available online.