A second massive Blue Marlin was caught off Bermuda last Friday morning in what is believed to be the first time two fish weighing more than 1,000 pounds have been caught here on the same day.

The Royal Gazette reported on Saturday that retired Bank of Bermuda executive Cummings Zuill landed a 1,199 pound Blue Marlin off Challenger Banks - a fish described by director of Agriculture and Fisheries John Barnes as one of the biggest Blue Marlins ever caught in the Atlantic.

In an amazing coincidence, teenaged tourist Justin North hooked another Blue Marlin estimated to be between 1,100 and 1,300 pounds at Argus Bank, within 20 minutes of Mr. Zuill's catch on Friday. Meanwhile it has emerged the monster Blue Marlin Mr. Zuill caught will prove a boon for international scientists.

Researchers in Bermuda and the US will be studying samples from the fish which was caught off Challenger Banks. Dr. Brian Luckhurst, the senior fisheries officer at Agriculture and Fisheries, took the samples after the fish - one of the biggest ever caught off Bermuda - was brought ashore from the Challenger at Spanish Point Boat Club.

Dr. Luckhurst is collaborating with scientists in Virginia, Miami and at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research.

He told The Royal Gazette that nothing is wasted when these enormous fish are landed and scientists study as much of the creatures as they can.

"It is extremely unusual to get a specimen this size and when we do we try to do as much as we can to learn as much as we can. We don't waste anything,'' he said. He is sending the otolith, or ear bone, to Dr. Eric Prince at the National Marine Fisheries Service in Miami, Florida, who is studying the age of these fish.

He said the calcium carbonate structures on the bones were like tree rings, enabling scientists to tell the age of these great creatures. Marlins weighing more than 1,000 pounds are usually 25-30 years old.

"Marlins are the apex predators in the oceanic system, and they are feeding on all those who feed below,'' he said.

"Work done so far indicates that Blue Marlin are probably the fastest physically growing fish in the ocean.''

He said a Blue Marlin which was 42 days old had grown to ten and a half inches and other studies showed they could grow one metre is just 100 days.

He revealed that all the huge marlins are female because the males grow to a maximum of 300 pounds.

"This can make a significant contribution to research into the maximum age they can attain,'' he said.

He said it was only the exceptionally large Blue Marlins - over 1000 pounds - that were usually landed while anglers returned smaller fish to the ocean. Around 90 percent of Blue Marlin caught off Bermuda were released, mostly with tags.

A study he conducted in 1999 off Bermuda with Dr. Prince and Dr. John Graves, a geneticist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences showed that eight out of nine Blue Marlin which were caught by anglers, tagged, and re-released into the ocean, survived.

"These were very significant findings which allowed us to move forward to get more tags and expand the study,'' he said.

Dr. Luckhurst is also sending liver samples of the Blue Marlin to Dr. Eric Dewailly at the Biostation who is studying mercury levels, which can be toxic at high levels, in large fish such as swordfish and Blue Marlin.

But Mr. North, who was fishing with Allen De Silva in the De Mako, tagged the enormous fish and released it into the ocean.

And Mr. North, 19, a student from New Jersey, condemned Mr. Zuill and his crew on the Challenger for not releasing their fish.

He said: "We tagged and released the fish, and after we released him, he gave one more jump and was away.

"I'm glad we did it. It's tremendous that I've been able to reel in a fish that size and I just don't like to see a creature that size killed for no real reason.

"I heard (Mr. Zuill) say it was almost dead that's why they boated it, but you can't eat it and it just turns into bait.

"There aren't enough of them out there. You hang this thing up to get weighed at the dock, and get your 15 minutes of fame and your picture in the paper. I'm just glad we released ours.

"It's hard to believe that this is the first time ever that two granders (fish weighing more than 1000 pounds) have been caught on the same day.''

Mr. North said it took him one hour and forty minutes to get the huge fish near the boat so it could be tagged.

"The power of the fish was incredible. The initial run was for a quarter of a mile and he was jumping. You couldn't see the fish, it was just water splashing everywhere.

"When we had him about 50 feet from the boat, he dived down and took a lot of line. Just to see a fish that size and that colour roll over was amazing.''