How a Mahi-mahi sees your lure
Which lure colour a Mahi-mahi can actually see, at your depth and in your water. 3 cone types, peak 540 nm. Ranked contrast for 54 colours.
Coryphaena hippurus · dorado · dolphinfish
Measured in the same family
No spectral measurement exists for this species. The cone peaks are a family-level substitution from epipelagic species in the Munz & McFarland (1973) series. This is a coarser assumption than a same-genus one; the broad "which end of the spectrum" answer is reliable, the fine ranking between adjacent colours is not.
Spectral sensitivity
| Cone peaks | λmax | Chromophore |
|---|---|---|
| Short | 450 nm | A1 |
| Medium | 500 nm | A1 |
| Long | 540 nm | A1 |
| Rod | 490 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 Mahi-mahi in these conditions. — Oceanic I, 15 m.
| Colour | Contrast | Seen from | Fish view | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | 98 | 55 m | Buy now | |
| 2 | Glow Glow finish — not modelled | 96 | 54 m | Buy now | |
| 3 | Silver holographic Metallic finish | 95 | 54 m | Buy now | |
| 4 | Sexy shad | 94 | 55 m | Buy now | |
| 5 | Chartreuse / white Fluorescent finish | 93 | 55 m | Buy now | |
| 6 | Bone | 93 | 53 m | Buy now | |
| 7 | Chrome Metallic finish | 92 | 52 m | Buy now | |
| 8 | Blue / white | 90 | 55 m | Buy now | |
| 9 | Pink / white Fluorescent finish | 88 | 55 m | Buy now | |
| 10 | Blueback herring | 88 | 55 m | Buy now | |
| Stands out least | |||||
| Junebug | 36 | 22 m | |||
| Brown | 33 | 21 m | |||
| Red | 32 | 20 m | |||
| Red craw | 31 | 20 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 Mahi-mahi see colour?
Yes. It has 3 cone types, peaking at 450 nm, 500 nm, 540 nm. That gives it 2 colour dimensions, against a human’s 2.
Where does this data come from?
No measurement exists for this species. The cone peaks are a family-level substitution — reliable for which end of the spectrum, not for fine ranking.
Sources
- Epipelagic pattern — Munz, F.W. & McFarland, W.N. (1973). Vision Research 13, 1829–1874.