Green-blue above, gold on the flanks, with a dorsal fin running from above the eye to the tail. Males grow a blunt vertical forehead that females never do, so the sexes are separable at a glance. Up to 2 m (6.5 ft), though most fish are half that.
It grows faster than almost any fish in the sea. A mahi-mahi hatches at a few millimeters and can reach a meter within its first year, spawns before it is one year old and rarely lives past four. Everything is built around that: it eats constantly, converts food at an extraordinary rate, and burns out young.
It lives under things. Floating weed, planks, buoys and any other debris gather small fish, and this species patrols them, which is why it is caught around drifting objects and why weed lines are the place to look. The habit also concentrates it where fisheries set drifting rafts.
The color goes out with the animal. A dying mahi-mahi flashes through blue, green and gold and then fades to a uniform dull yellow-gray within minutes - the pigment cells stop being driven by nerves that have stopped firing. Anyone who has seen one landed remembers it, and it is the reason the fish has a reputation for beauty that a photograph never quite carries.
The genus. Coryphaena Linnaeus 1758 - corys (helmet) + phaino (to make manifest). ETYFish
The species. Coryphaena hippurus Linnaeus 1758 - horse-tailed. ETYFish
- brilliant green-blue and gold body, deepest at the head and tapering to the tail
- males carry a near-vertical blunt forehead; females have a rounded one
- long dorsal fin running from above the eye to the tail
- length up to 2 m
Why it's threatened
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
