If Santiago from "The Old Man and the Sea" caught an albino blue marlin (like the one that was hooked near Costa Rica on Tuesday) instead of the enormous beast that nearly cost him his life, it probably would have had a deeper literary meaning our high school selves would have struggled to interpret.
For the old man, size distinguished his catch (some villagers mistook its skeleton for a shark). For the fishermen near Costa Rica, it was the lack of pigmentation. Never before had area fishermen seen an albino blue marlin, Yahoo reported. Actually, many believe it was only partially albino, or leucistic, because it still had touches of blue.
Fishermen might see the rare fish again in the future. After taking about an hour reeling it in, the crew aboard the 43-foot yacht named "Spanish Fly" and owned by Maverick Fishing carefully released it back into the ocean, according to Yahoo.
Even if they didn't bring it in, they were excited by their rare catch - and so were those not even on the boat that day.
"It was definitely not a typical day," Glen Mumford, owner of Maverick Fishing, told Yahoo. According to Mumford, his crew has seen albino sailfish, but never a Marlin.
"...had an amazing day and confusion," said Captain Daniel Espinoza, who'd unfortunately taken Tuesday off and missed the live action. "Caught one Blue Marlin albino, first time I hear of one. Congratulations on that great job."
Karen Weaver, who'd rented the Yacht with her husband in preparation for an upcoming fishing tournament, controlled the line bit by the medium-sized marlin. She was also joined by fill-in captain Juan Carlos Fallas Zamora and his mates, Carlos Pollo Espinoza Jimenez and Roberto Chelato Salinas Hernandez, according to Yahoo.
