How a Blue marlin sees your lure
Which lure colour a Blue marlin can actually see, at your depth and in your water. 2 cone types, peak 484 nm. Ranked contrast for 54 colours.
Makaira nigricans
Measured for this species
Cone peaks are direct measurements for this species. The rest of the model — water optics, contrast, detection distance — is still an estimate, and none of it predicts whether a fish will strike. 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 Blue marlin in these conditions. — Oceanic I, 51 m.
| Colour | Contrast | Seen from | Fish view | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | 98 | 51 m | Buy now | |
| 2 | Silver holographic Metallic finish | 95 | 50 m | Buy now | |
| 3 | Sexy shad | 94 | 51 m | Buy now | |
| 4 | Glow Glow finish — not modelled | 93 | 49 m | Buy now | |
| 5 | Bone | 91 | 48 m | Buy now | |
| 6 | Chrome Metallic finish | 91 | 48 m | Buy now | |
| 7 | Blue / white | 89 | 51 m | Buy now | |
| 8 | Chartreuse / white Fluorescent finish | 88 | 51 m | Buy now | |
| 9 | Pink / white Fluorescent finish | 88 | 51 m | Buy now | |
| 10 | Blueback herring | 88 | 51 m | Buy now | |
| Stands out least | |||||
| Green pumpkin | 25 | 17 m | |||
| Copper | 24 | 16 m | |||
| Olive | 24 | 16 m | |||
| Fluorescent orange | 22 | 15 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 Blue marlin 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?
Direct microspectrophotometry, ERG or behavioural spectral sensitivity for this species.
Sources
- Fritsches, K.A., Partridge, J.C., Pettigrew, J.D. & Marshall, N.J. (2000). Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 355, 1253–1256.
- Fritsches, K.A., Marshall, N.J. & Warrant, E.J. (2003). Marine and Freshwater Research 54, 333–341.