Alfred C. Glassell Jr. caught a black marlin weighing 1,560 lb (710 kg) (pictured) off the coast of Peru, setting the record for the largest bony fish caught by hand.

Alfred Curry Glassell Jr. was an American businessman and philanthropist. He made a fortune in the oil and gas industry in Louisiana and Texas and was a co-founder of Transcontinental Pipeline. He amassed a significant collection of gold artifacts and had a long association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, also making significant contributions to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and in oceanographic research. As a sport fisherman he set a longstanding record for the largest black marlin caught by handheld rod, weighing 1,560 pounds (710 kg), which is recognised by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) as the largest bony fish caught by hand.

The black marlin is a species of marlin found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans approximately between 40 degrees North and 45 degrees South, while in some instances venturing into more temperate waters. Reaching lengths of over 4.5 m (15 ft), It is one of the largest marlins and also one of the largest bony fish. Marlin are among the fastest fish, but speeds may be exaggerated in popular media, such as reports of 129 km/h (80 mph). A 2016 study estimated maximum swimming speeds from muscle contraction times, which in turn limit the tail-beat frequency; the study suggested a theoretical upper limit for the black marlin's burst speed of 36 kilometres per hour (22 mph).

Osteichthyes, also known as osteichthyans or commonly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse clade of vertebrate animals that have endoskeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes and the extinct placoderms and acanthodians, which have endoskeletons primarily composed of cartilage. The vast majority of extant fish are members of Osteichthyes, being an extremely diverse and abundant group consisting of 45 orders, over 435 families and 28,000 species.