Lit up: what sailfish color changes reveal about their moods and behaviors.

Page/Link: Page URL: Page URL: HTML link: <a href="https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Lit+up%3a+what+sailfish+color+changes+reveal+about+their+moods+and...-a0395846109</a> HTML link: Citations: MLA style: "Lit up: what sailfish color changes reveal about their moods and behaviors.." The Free Library . 2015 InterMedia Outdoors, Inc. 23 Sep. 2020 "Lit up: what sailfish color changes reveal about their moods and behaviors..". 2015 InterMedia Outdoors, Inc. 23 Sep. 2020 https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Lit+up%3a+what+sailfish+color+changes+reveal+about+their+moods+and...-a0395846109

Chicago style: The Free Library. S.v. Lit up: what sailfish color changes reveal about their moods and behaviors.." Retrieved Sep 23 2020 from The Free Library. S.v. Lit up: what sailfish color changes reveal about their moods and behaviors.." Retrieved Sep 23 2020 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Lit+up%3a+what+sailfish+color+changes+reveal+about+their+moods+and...-a0395846109

APA style: Lit up: what sailfish color changes reveal about their moods and behaviors.. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Sep 23 2020 from Lit up: what sailfish color changes reveal about their moods and behaviors.. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Sep 23 2020 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Lit+up%3a+what+sailfish+color+changes+reveal+about+their+moods+and...-a0395846109

Sailfish broadcast their moods through changes in skin color, giving anglers a show that many seasoned bluewater anglers find just as exciting as hooking up.Anyone who has trolled with teasers has probably seen sailfish "darken up," changing from grayish blue to black as they prepare to charge simulated prey.But black is only one of the many colors that sailfish display.Depending on what they're doing and how they're feeling, Florida's official state saltwater fish can display copper/bronze, neon blue and purplish tints on their skin when they're tired or excited.Vertical bars tinged with white and electric blue spots are common on "lit up" sails, such as those shown in under water videos corralling sardines into balls like ocean cowboys rounding up cattle."The best thing about fishing is seeing them change colors right before your eyes," said Capt. Scott Fawcett of Off the Chain Fishing Charters in Stuart. "Once it starts to darken up and glow, that fish is all business and ready to eat."Why sailfish display such colors remains the subject of debate, though most experienced billfish anglers agree that darkening indicates an excited fish that's intent on feeding, while a sailfish wearing its nondescript gray suit with its trademark dorsal fin retracted is simply on the hunt, trying to blend in with its surroundings.Like many things in nature, the sailfish's display of color tends to vary from fish to fish, from day to day and from second to second. Quit watching to check your text messages and you could miss the whole show.Captain Bouncer Smith of Bouncer's Dusky 33 in Miami said he's seen dark-colored, excited sailfish appear under live baits dangled on the surface from a kite, then disappear when they change back to grayish blue.Smith's recommendation to anglers who spot sailfish: Note the depth, run the boat into the current and put out baits. Sailfish generally move into the current in South Florida, so that usually means moving south to get ahead of the fish in the northerly flow of the Gulf Stream.Several veteran bluewater anglers, including Capt. Ron Hamlin, said they have seen white spots on the foreheads of sailfish that are stoked at the prospect of feeding. Sometimes, he said, the white color extends to the bills."When they're on your rigger, under your spread, it's impossible not to see them," Hamlin said, referring to white spots.Hamlin ran sportfishing boats for 45 years and was a pioneer in the use of circle hooks to minimize damage to sailfish. His resume of offshore fishing accomplishments includes releasing 124 Pacific sails in one day--all on trolled ballyhoo rigged with circle hooks--off Guatemala.The lack of dark color means a sailfish is not ready to eat, Hamlin said. He's observed sailfish that come up beside another that was hooked on fly. When the companion fish doesn't darken, "it's almost impossible to get that one to bite," Hamlin said.Captain Wink Doerzbacher, of Jupiter, believes sailfish flash colors to scare their prey. The display of color can include bright blue pectoral fins and tail."If you get your bait in front of them, they'll turn black and will get stripes," Doerzbacher said.The sailfish's colorful dorsal fin also is thought to be useful in working baitfish into balls, and it may have other functions. Doerzbacher once watched a sailfish raise its "sail" above the surface in front of a flying fish that was gliding over the waves. After the flying fish hit the sailfish's dorsal fin and became disoriented, the sailfish circled and ate it.As for the white spots, some sailfish display them and some don't. White spots were so common on excited sailfish during one of Doerzbacher's fishing trips off of Mexico that his crew referred to them as "the white hat boys."But veteran billfish angler Nick Smith, of Sewalls Point, estimates that fewer than 1 in 100 sailfish displays a white spot on its head while in feeding mode.Although sailfish turn dark and sometimes flash bright blue colors and vertical stripes, they don't light up as often as blue marlin, Smith said."I think the coloration and lighting up has to do with the degree of excitement," Smith said.The darkening of sailfish can be triggered by stimuli other than the excitement of preparing to attack prey.Smith once watched a sailfish turn dark when the fish was apparently startled by the boat roaring by at 25 knots."All of a sudden it went from subdued coloration to all lit up because he was obviously afraid and surprised," said Smith, who has released about 9,000 sailfish since he caught his first one in 1955.Smith has watched curious sailfish following hooked sails when fly fishing offshore. When the following fish don't turn dark, they're hard to coax into biting if they don't hit right away, he said.Color changes in sailfish are not always predictable.Even feeding sailfish don't always darken their bodies, Smith said. "I've seen them come up and take a bait without changing color," he said.A sailfish displaying a dark copper color probably is exhausted or stressed, said Dr. Eric Prince, a research fishery biologist with NOAA Fisheries in Miami.Prince said he once resuscitated a copper-colored sailfish, which he said was under hypoxic stress, for 45 minutes. As the sailfish regained strength, he watched it change from copper back to its more typical silver color.Prince said he's seen sailfish turn "almost purple" when agitated during feeding.Ichthyologist George Burgess of the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville compares color changes in sailfish to blushing in humans. "There's a physiological change," Burgess said.The mood swing signals pigment-containing cells in the skin called chromatophores to produce changes in skin color. The sailfish's dark color comes from black pigment cells called melanophores.Burgess said sailfish and other fish change color to send a message to other creatures around them."There's a lot of communication that goes on in the water, and a lot of it is non-verbal," Burgess said.Other fish, notably flounder, are adept at changing their colors for camouflage. Set a flounder on a checkered doormat, and the flounder will change its colors like a chameleon to match, Burgess said.Fawcett, the Stuart-based charter captain, enjoys watching the color displays of sailfish that he lures close to his 31-foot Contender using a variety of teasers.The relative quiet of his four-stroke outboards, Fawcett said, allows him to tease "colored up" sailfish almost to the stern of his boat.Fawcett believes sailfish flash colors to communicate their intentions to other sails."It's a signal to other sailfish," he said. "I'm almost certain a glowing fish is calling for backup."Photos by Pat Ford