Comprehensive Italian Annotated Bibliography on the Mediterranean Spearfish (Tetrapturus belone, Rafinesque, 1810), and on Other Billfish and Spearfish Species

The Italian scientists have a long tradition of studies and research on many large pelagic species, including spearfishes and billfishes. One of these species (Tetrapturus belone), the only one which can be considered really Mediterranean, can show relevant catches in some years, while other species are incidental or vagrant. This paper is providing a comprehensive bibliography on these species, listing a total of 175 papers published so far by Italian scientists, concerning the biology, the fisheries and many other scientific issues. The aim of this paper is to improve as much as possible the access to the bibliography, with specific keywords, even if it is still surely incomplete, because sometimes the information on Mediterranean spearfish or other more rare billfish species is hidden in some papers on other pelagic fisheries. This bibliography was set-up together to serve the scientists and to help them in finding some rare references that might be useful for their work.