346 NATURAL HISTOEY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



It is the universal testimony of our fishermen that two are never seen swimming close 

 together. Captain Ashby says that they are always distant from each other at least thirty or 

 forty feet. 



MAXIMUM AND AVERAGE SIZE OF AMERICAN SWORD-FISH. The only individual of which 

 we have the exact measurements was taken off Seacounet, Rhode Island, July 23, 1874. This was 

 seven feet seven inches long, weighing 113 pounds. Another, taken off Neman's Land, July 20, 

 1875, and cast in plaster for the collection of the National Museum, weighed 120 pounds, and meas- 

 ured about seven feet. Another, taken off Portland, August 15, 1878, was 3,999 millimeters long, 

 and weighed about COO pounds. Many of these fish doubtless attain the weight of 400 and 500 

 pounds, and some, perhaps, grow to 600; but after this limit is reached, I am inclined to believe 

 larger fish are exceptional. Newspapers are fond of recording the occurrence of giant fish, weigh- 

 ing 1,500 pounds and upwards, and old sailors will in good faith describe the enormous fish which 

 they saw at sea, but could not capture; but one well-authenticated instance of accurate weighing- 

 is much more valuable. The largest one ever taken by Capt. Benjamin Ashby, for twenty years a 

 sword-fish fisherman, was killed on the shoals back of Edgartown, Massachusetts. When salted it 

 weighed 639 pounds. Its live weight must have been as much as 750 or 800. Its sword measured 

 nearly six feet. This was an extraordinary fish among the three hundred or more taken by 

 Captain Ashby in his long experience. He considers the average size to be about 250 pounds 

 dressed, or 325 alive. Captain Martin, of Gloucester, estimates the average size at 300 to 400 

 pounds. The largest known to Captain Michaux weighed 625. The average about Block Island 

 he considers to be 200 pounds. 



There are other stories of large fish. Capt. R. H. Hurlbert, of Gloucester, killed one on 

 George's Banks, in September, 1876, which weighed when dressed 480 pounds. Capt. John Rowe, 

 of the same port, salted one which filled two and one-half barrels. This probably weighed 600 

 pounds when alive. I have been told that a Sword-fish loses one-third of its weight in dressing, 

 but I should think that one-fourth would be nearer to the truth. Captain Baker, of the schooner 

 "Peter D. Smith," of Gloucester, assures me that he killed, in the summer of 1874, off Portland, 

 a Sword-fish which weighed 750 pounds. 



Mitchill and DeKay state that in 1791 a Sword-fish sixteen feet in length was exhibited in 

 New York. It is questionable whether they often exceed this measurement. My own observa- 

 tions have been made on specimens from seven to twelve feet long. A stuffed specimen in the 

 United States National Museum measures about ten feet, and this seems to be very nearly the 

 average size. 



MINIMUM SIZE OF AMERICAN SWORD-FISH. The size of the smallest Sword-fishes taken on 

 our coast is a subject of much deeper interest, for it throws light on the time and place of breed- 

 ing. There is some difference of testimony regarding the average size, but all fishermen with 

 whom I have talked agree that very small ones do not find their way into our waters. I have col- 

 lected several instances from the experiences of men long wonted to this fishery. 



Capt. John Rowe has seen one which did not weigh more than 75 pounds when taken out of the 

 water. 



Capt. R. H. Hurlbert killed, near Block Island, in July, 1877, one which weighed 50 pounds, 

 and measured about two feet without its sword. 



Captain Ashby's smallest weighed about 25 pounds when dressed ; this he killed off Neman's 

 Land. He never killed another which weighed less than 100. He tells me that a Bridgeport smack 

 had one weighing 16 pounds (or probably 24 when alive), and measuring eighteen inches without 

 its sword. 



