: 5 6 AMERICAN FISHES. 



Its appearance is very remarkable on account of its long, compressed 

 form and its glistening, silvery color. The name " Scabbard-fish," which 

 has been given to an allied species in Europe, would be very proper also 

 for this species, for in general shape and appearance it looks very like the 

 metallic scabbard of the sword. It attains the length of four or five feet, 

 though ordinarily not exceeding twenty-five or thirty inches. This species 

 is found in the tropical Atlantic, on the coast of Brazil, in the Gulf of 

 California, the West Indies, the Gulf of Mexico, and north to Wood's 

 Holl, Mass., where, during the past ten years, specimens have occasionally 

 been taken. In 1845 one was found at Wellfleet, Mass.; and in the Essex 

 Institute is a specimen which is said to have been found in Salem Harbor. 

 The species occurs also on the coast of Europe, two specimens having been 

 found on the shores of the Moray Frith many years ago, and during the 

 past decade it has become somewhat abundant in Southern England. It 

 does not, however, enter the Mediterranean. Some writers believed the 

 allied species, Trichiurus haumela, found in the Indian Ocean and Archi- 

 pelago and in various parts of the Pacific, to be specifically the same. 



The Cutlass-fish is abundant in the St. John's River, Fla., in the Indian 

 River region, and in the Gulf of Mexico. Several instances were related 

 to me in which these fish had thrown themselves from the water into row- 

 boats, a feat which might be very easily performed by a lithe, active 

 species like the Trichiurus. A small one fell into a boat crossing the 

 mouth of the Arlington River, where the water is nearly fresh. 



Many individuals of the same species are taken every year at the mouth 

 of the St. John's River, at Mayport. Stearns states that they are caught 

 in the deep waters of the bays about Pensacola, swimming nearly at the 

 surface, but chiefly with hooks and lines from the wharves. He has known 

 them to strike at the oars of the boat and at the end of the ropes that 

 trailed in the water. At Pensacola they reach a length of twenty to thirty 

 inches, and are considered good food-fish. Richard Hill states that in 

 Jamaica this species is much esteemed, and is fished for assiduously in a 

 "hole," as it is called, that is, a deep portion of the waters off Fort 

 Augusta. This is the best fishing place for the Cutlass-fish, Trichiurus. 

 The fishing takes place before day ; all lines are pulled in as fast as they 

 are thrown out, with the certainty that the Cutlass has been hooked. As 

 many as ninety boats have been counted on this fishing ground at day- 

 break during the season. 



