Anglers dropped several lines into the Mediterranean Sea and waited until something took the bait. Their catch — an “unusual” 2-foot-long sea creature — turned out to be a first-of-its-kind record for Malta.
The first known record of a wahoo in the Mediterranean Sea came in 1872 after the fish ended up in a trap near Palermo, Italy. Ever since, the species has been an “uncommon” catch in the region.
But 2024 was different.
Last year, wahoo fish were found at “relatively high frequency” throughout the Mediterranean. A combination of factors, including a “greater fishing effort,” “extended period of fair weather” and “exceptionally high seawater temperatures,” likely contributed to the “unexpected” number of sightings, according to a study published March 12 in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria.
Off the coast of Malta, anglers David Ellul and Jean Paul Sciberras caught two wahoos last October and November — the country’s first record of the species, researchers said.
Scientifically known as Acanthocybium solandri, wahoos are also commonly referred to as barracudas or kingfish, according to the Florida Museum. These “very long” fish live in open, tropical oceans around the world, generally being “solitary or forming small, loose aggregations.”
Wahoo have a “high commercial value” and are “considered very valuable in recreational fishery,” the study said. These fish are “a generalist top predator” capable of reaching swimming speeds of about 28 miles per hour.
Photos show the pair of young male wahoos caught off Malta. They measured between 23 and 24 inches in length and weighed about 2.3 and 2.7 pounds, the study said.
One wahoo was caught “by a professional fisherman” using a Fishing Aggregated Device, a floating object used to attract oceanic fish, at a depth of about 1,700 feet, researchers said. The other fish was caught at a depth of about 1,150 feet with fishing lines placed off the end of the boat and “baited with (an) artificial lure stuck to a feather.”
Researchers said the first-of-their-kind wahoo catches add “another species to the checklist of marine fishes reported for the Maltese archipelago.”
Malta is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea situated south of Italy and north of Libya.
The research team included Alan Deidun, Maria Corsini-Foka, Alessio Marrone, Gianni Insacco, Jean Paul Schembri, Arnold Sciberras, Mario Santoro, Flavia Occhibove, Antonio Di Natale and Bruno Zava.
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