Free dive for blue mussels

There are sites in the Algarve that appears to be unknown to mankind. I say this based on the existing  fauna and flora.  Long gone are the days when I dive after mussels. Usually I catch them on the waterline with low tide.

It was not the case this weekend.

I went to visit an old place for seafood picking, that i haven't visit for decades. About  4 ~ 6 meters deep, there are mussels of 10-12 cms.

So it was. To my surprise, it still is.

 It's a tiresome technique/harvest because each dive you only pick 3 or 4 mussels and you'll get hands full so you'll return to the basket to leak your hands.

With the bottom filled with mussels, is hard to believe that such places have escaped the human greed. The best is not to say where it is because it appears to be an unknown place to the humanity. That place could become a desert overnight.

The important thing to who harvest here, is to take only what you need and leave the rest for the next picking.

Here is a small film released on YouTube with images of these mussel forests.

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Marlins World Records recocnized by IGFA

IGFA (International Game Fish Association) recognized World Records

While there have been bigger marlin landed commercially and by recreational anglers not in accordance with IGFA rules, pictured below are the leading big fish, officially speaking.

Special thanks to the IGFA @ (www.igfa.org) and Marlin Magazine @ (www.marlinmag.com).

Atlantic Blue Marlin

Weight: 1,402 pounds, 2 ounces ( 636 Kg )

Angler: Paulo Amorim

Location: Vitoria, Brazil

Date: Feb. 29, 1992

Notes: 162-inch (4,11mt) fish ate a pink-and-white Mold Craft Super Chugger and is the most recent record-breaker on IGFA list. (Big photo is a replica mount)

Black Marlin

Weight: 1,560 pounds ( 707,6 Kg )

Angler: Alfred Glassell Jr.

Location: Cabo Blanco, Peru

Date: Aug. 4, 1953

Notes: 1 hour and 45 minute fight. The 174-inch (4,42mt) fish fell for a mackerel trolled in the once-legendary Black Marlin Boulevard off Cabo Blanco.

Pacific Blue Marlin

Weight: 1,376 pounds ( 624,14 Kg )

Angler: Jay de Beaubien

Location: Kaaiwai Point, Kona, Hawai

Date: May 31, 1982

Notes: This blue Marlin took a Kita lure and succumbed in less than one hour. Jay de Beaubien caught this 193-inch (4,90mt.) fish using a Fin-Nor 12/0.

Striped Marlin

Weight: 494 pounds ( 224,07 Kg )

Angler: Bill Boniface

Location: Tutukaka, New Zealand

Date: January 16, 1986

Notes: Boniface, a New Zealand native, fed this once-in-a-lifetime fish a kahawai.

White Marlin

Weight: 181 pounds, 14 ounces ( 82,5 Kg )

Angler: Evandro Coser

Location: Vitoria, Brazil

Date: Dec. 8, 1979

Notes: Coser (of Brazil) trolled dead bait to land this 107.5-inch (2,73mt.) fish.

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The difference bettwen a blue, white marlin and swordfish

Do you know the difference between a Blue, white marlin and a swordfish ?

Sometimes you need to get the fish close to the boat to recognize the differences and in fact i've met sport fisherman that didn't recognize the fish even when in the boat. The fish behavior in the end of the line can give you a clue, but if you're not trained to recognize that behavior it is natural to make a mistake.

The swordfish or broadbills, even resembling the comum billfish such as the marlins, they are not from the same family. Apparently they are migratory and live in all Oceans of the world. The traditional jumping out of the water when hooked doesn't happen with the swordfish. Or at least I never heard of. On the contrary of the marlins, the swordfish only feed at night and therefore to hook one of these have to be at sunrise or at dusk. Swordfish are dark grey to silver grey in the belly and their body is round.

White marlin can never grow to sizes like the blue marlin and the swordfish.

White Marlin Max:  ????  83Kg
Atlantic Blue Marlin Max: 5 meters  820Kg.
Swordfish Max: 4,5 meters 650Kg
(Max values ever recorded)

But if it's a small blue marlin, approximately the size of an grown white marlin????

The white marlin puts a show of agility almost like the easy recognized sailfish, running on out of the water flapping his tale to suspend the body while the blue marlins just do jumps, not runs. Blue marlin have a stronger body while the the white is slender. Also the side flippers of the white marlin are slightly longer and round while blue are pointy.

We can recognise the differences when have them side by side, but at the distance we can not see this differences.

"The back flipper!".

If you look carefully, there is no possible mistake with swordfish which have a back flipper similar to the blue marlin but much longer. White marlin back flipper is not pointy like the others, it is cut/round.

The images are self explanatory

For those who do not have an eye ready, yet, start looking for these clues.

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