Within the spearfish family, of the genus Istiophoridae, we can distinguish four types: tetrapturus pluegeri: longbill spearfish (long sword), tetrapturus angustirotris: shortbill spearfish (short sword), tetrapturus belone, Mediterranean spearfish, also called aguja imperial and tetrapturus georgii: roundscale spearfish.
The first, dark blue body, silver, white underneath and a well deployed dorsal fin, with an upper jaw that extends into the shape of a beak or sword, is found in deep water, feeds on the surface on small fish, medium, squid, flying fish, etc..
They are found mainly throughout the Atlantic Ocean, from the coasts of the United States and New Jersey, to the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, Venezuela and the eastern Atlantic, the coasts of Portugal. Algarve, Gulf of Cadiz and Canary Islands.
It can sometimes be mistaken for white marlin. Sometimes specimens have been caught on the west coast of South Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, but it is very unusual. Some experts report the capture of long bill spearfish off the coast of Richards Bay (South Africa) in the Indian Ocean.
The short bill spearfish, with a very short upper jaw or beak and a shorter lower jaw than the upper one, is dark blue in colour, has an elongated and fairly compressed body, a white and silvery ventral area and a very dark blue dorsal fin, is found in deep water, eats at the surface and feeds on small fish, cephalopods and crustaceans. This variety of spearfish does not exceed 2.50 m and rarely weighs more than 55 kg. It is mainly found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Hawaii, Australia (northeast and northwest coast), New Zealand, mainly in the Plenty Bay area between Waihau Bay and Mercury Bay, and also in French Polynesia
The females are usually larger and the world record was set by an Australian fisherman with a 50kg specimen in Botany Bay (Sydney) in 2008. Rarely has a specimen been caught in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean.