354 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



in "fits of temporary insanity," as Goode 69 

 expressed it, or more likely, while pursuing 

 dolphins or other fish. Most of the attacks of 

 this sort reported from tropical seas seem actually 

 to have been by spearfishes (p. 357) but some in 

 northern waters seem almost certainly to have 

 been by the broadbill. A case in point is that of 

 the schooner Volunteer, out of Gloucester, which 

 received a strong blow near Block Island, August 

 7, 1887, apparently from a 300-pound swordfish 

 that was seen swimming alongside, and which 

 proved to have lost its entire sword when it was 

 harpooned and brought on board. 60 We can only 

 add that we have never heard of a swordfish 

 making an unprovoked attack on any of the 

 fishing vessels that pursue them every summer, or 

 on any of the other craft, large or small, that 

 cruise off our coasts. But fish that have been 

 harpooned often turn on their pursuers, and it is 

 a common event for one to pierce the thin bottom 

 of a dory. We have, indeed, known several 

 fishermen of our acquaintance to be wounded in 

 the leg in this way, but always after the fish had 

 been struck with the harpoon. Under these 

 circumstances swordfish have been known to drive 

 their swords right through the planking of a 

 fishing vessel. 61 



Stories of swordfish attacking whales are time- 

 honored traditions of the sea, mostly with no more 

 foundation than the myth that they ally them- 

 selves with the harmless thresher shark for the 

 purpose. As a matter of fact swordfish are easily 

 frightened, and they will not often allow a small 

 boat to come within striking range, which made 

 harpooning from dories difficult in the old days. 62 

 But for some occult reason they will allow them- 

 selves to be almost run down by a larger vessel 

 without paying the least attention to its approach 

 until aroused by its shadow, or by the swirl of 

 water under its forefoot. But we have never 

 heard of a swordfish actually being struck by a 

 vessel; they always sound or turn aside in time. 



Swordfish fight gamely on the surface or below 

 when harpooned. Storer long ago wrote that they 

 sometimes sound with such speed and force as to 



» Fish. Ind. V. S., Sect. 1, 1884, p. 345. 



«° Related by Rich (Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, Pt. 2, 1947, 

 pp. 48-49). 



«' Many cases of this sort are mentioned In the rather extensive literature 

 dealing with the swordfish. 



« Rich (Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, Pt. 2, 1947, p. 71) so informs 

 as. 



drive the sword into the bottom, which fishermen 

 say is by no means uncommon; and we saw this 

 off Halifax in August 1914, when a fish more than 

 10 feet long, which we had harpooned from the 

 Grampus, plunged with such force that it buried 

 itself in the mud beyond its eyes in 56 fathoms of 

 water. When finally hauled alongside it brought 

 up enough mud plastered to its head to yield a 

 good sample of the bottom. 



Full-grown swordfish are so active, so powerful, 

 and so well armed that they have few enemies. 

 Sperm and killer whales and the larger sharks 

 alone could menace them. And while we can 

 find no evidence that swordfish ever fall prey to 

 the first two, Captain Atwood found a good- 

 sized swordfish in the stomach of a Mako shark. 

 A swordfish erman described seeing two large 

 sharks bite or tear off the tail of a 350-pound 

 swordfish, which he afterwards harpooned. A 

 120-pound swordfish, nearly intact with sword 

 still attached, was found in the stomach of a 730- 

 pound Mako taken near Bimini, Bahamas, while 

 another Mako of about 800 pounds, harpooned off 

 Montauk, Long Island, was seen attacking a 

 swordfish, and was found to have about 150 

 pounds of the flesh of the latter in its stomach 

 when it was landed (p. 24). .And Rich 63 mentions 

 that other like cases have been reported. Young 

 swordfish would, of course, be preyed upon by any 

 of the larger predaceous fishes. 



Swordfish are infested with many parasites 

 besides the remoras, several of which are often 

 found clinging to one fish. No less than 12 species 

 of worms and 6 of copepods have been identified 

 from fish taken off Woods Hole. 



The eggs of the swordfish have not been seen, 

 or have not been identified if seen; probably they 

 are buoyant. Neither is anything definitely 

 known of the rate of growth of the swordfish. It 

 has been supposed that the young fish of half a 

 pound to 12 pounds that are taken in winter in 

 the Mediterranean are the product of the past 

 spring's spawning, which would call for unusually 

 rapid growth. But the very large size to which 

 swordfish grow may equally be the result of long 

 life, as it is in the case of the tuna (p. 342). 



General range. — Both sides of the Atlantic 

 Ocean; north to northern Norway, southern and 



« See Farrlngton (Field and Stream magazine, vol. 47, February 1943) 

 and Rich (Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, Pt. 2, 1947, p. 44) for more 

 detailed accounts. 



