How a Atlantic sailfish sees your lure
Which lure colour a Atlantic sailfish can actually see, at your depth and in your water. 2 cone types, peak 484 nm. Ranked contrast for 54 colours.
Istiophorus albicans
Measured in a close relative
No spectral measurement exists for this species. The cone peaks are taken from other istiophorid billfish, principally the blue marlin, its close relative with the same feeding ecology. Treat the hue rankings as indicative rather than exact. Billfish warm their eyes and brain, which gives them exceptional temporal resolution — they can resolve fast movement far better than most fish. That is a motion advantage, not a colour one, and this model does not represent it.
Spectral sensitivity
| Cone peaks | λmax | Chromophore |
|---|---|---|
| Short | 440 nm | A1 |
| Medium | 484 nm | A1 |
| Rod | 484 nm | A1 |
Rods do the work at dawn, dusk and night — which is when most people fish.
Lure table
Ranked by how much each colour stands out to a Atlantic sailfish in these conditions. — Oceanic I, 31 m.
| Colour | Contrast | Seen from | Fish view | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | 98 | 54 m | Buy now | |
| 2 | Silver holographic Metallic finish | 95 | 53 m | Buy now | |
| 3 | Sexy shad | 94 | 54 m | Buy now | |
| 4 | Glow Glow finish — not modelled | 94 | 52 m | Buy now | |
| 5 | Bone | 92 | 51 m | Buy now | |
| 6 | Chrome Metallic finish | 91 | 51 m | Buy now | |
| 7 | Blue / white | 90 | 54 m | Buy now | |
| 8 | Chartreuse / white Fluorescent finish | 89 | 54 m | Buy now | |
| 9 | Pink / white Fluorescent finish | 88 | 54 m | Buy now | |
| 10 | Blueback herring | 88 | 53 m | Buy now | |
| Stands out least | |||||
| Copper | 28 | 19 m | |||
| Olive | 26 | 19 m | |||
| Orange craw | 24 | 18 m | |||
| Fluorescent orange | 19 | 12 m | |||
Contrast quoted at 1.0 m viewing distance. · Light that survives best here: 470 nm
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Get these colours
The three that came out on top, searched on your own Amazon. The ranking above is worked out from the water and the fish, before any of these links exist.
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Gear this page implies
- A lure kit with a spread of colours See on Amazon
The point of knowing which colour wins is having it in the box.
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What this water lets through
The clearest ocean there is. Deep blue, and blue penetrates furthest by far.
Water types
Target species
Questions people actually ask
Can a Atlantic sailfish see colour?
Yes, but only just. It has 2 cone types, peaking at 440 nm, 484 nm, so it has a single dimension of hue where a human has 2.
Where does this data come from?
No measurement exists for this species. The cone peaks come from a congener with the same feeding ecology.
Sources
- Fritsches, K.A., Marshall, N.J. & Warrant, E.J. (2003). Marine and Freshwater Research 54, 333–341 — istiophorid billfish.