518 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



OBSERVATIONS ON SPEARFISHES OF THE 

 CENTRAL PACIFIC 



Having decided which characters are of diag- 

 nostic value, it is now possible to consider our 

 observations on the spearfishes of the central 

 Pacific together with the considerable literature 

 on the group from the several parts of this ocean. 

 This we have done in the following discussion, 

 with the assumption that many of the minor 

 differences reported in body proportions will prove 

 to be individual variation, or at most, varietal 

 differences. 



During this study we were fortunate to liave 

 ready access to Japanese literature through our 

 translator, W. G. Van Campen. He located 

 many papers including several which were pub- 

 lished entirely in Japanese. Many of these papers 

 were translated and others were summarized. 

 Further, we corresponded extensively with Japa- 



nese workers on the spearfishes and feel that we 

 quite completely covered the recent Japanese 

 literature on the spearfishes. 



Xiphias gladius Linnaeus 



Swordfish, Broadbill 



Tsun, Shutome, or Mekajiki (Japan) 



Our catches of the swordfish have been so small 

 that we can add little of significance; however, it 

 seems worthwhile to discuss it here and give a few 

 brief notes from recent Japanese publications. 



The truly pelagic nature of the swordfish is 

 indicated in Kikawa's (1954) review of the 

 Japanese fisliery. He reported that at the begin- 

 ning of the season in late summer the highest catch 

 rates are to be found northeast of Japan, north of 



FlouRE 22. — Distribution of POFI catches of swordfish, Xiphias gladius. Fractions indicate stations at which catches 

 were reported out of the total fished; decimals indicate average catch per 100 hooks per day. 



