Atlantic needlefish
Strongylura marina
Garfish
Belone belone
About
The garfish is a long, needle-thin fish that skims just under the surface, its jaws drawn out into a slender, tooth-lined beak.
Also known as: sea needle, garpike, greenbone, black sea garfish, european needlefish
How to tell it apart
Other needlefish share the same thin, beaked shape. On the garfish, the dorsal and anal fins sit unusually far back near the tail, giving it a whip-like swimming motion other look-alikes lack.
Appearance
The body is long, slim, and flattened from side to side, with a bluish-green back and a silvery grey belly. Both jaws are stretched into a long, narrow beak lined with sharp teeth.
Behaviour
Garfish live near the surface in open water and move in shoals, following a migration much like mackerel, arriving just ahead of them. They move into shallow water in spring to spawn among seagrass beds, then head back out to open sea in autumn. They hunt small fish such as herring and sand eels, often near the shore around rocks or other features that break up the current.
Did you know?
The garfish has bright green bones, an odd trait for a fish that otherwise looks silvery and ordinary.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
