440 ^- Vedel Taning 



13 mm in length, and none are over 46 mm. A further reason for the infrequent 

 catches of the fry is that they Uve near the surface. On the Dana expeditions, a ^- 

 metre ring net was usually used in the surface layers rather than a larger one. Even 

 small fry can certainly avoid such a small net. That the fry do indeed frequent the 

 surface layers is also indicated by the fact that the specimens discussed by Chr. 

 LtJTKEN (1880) were collected from a sailing ship at the surface. In addition, most 

 of the 34 Xiphias specimens described by Arata (1954) were small (chiefly 2-3 cm 

 in length), and were taken at the surface in a dipnet during the day. Therefore, in 

 the future some attention should certainly be given to using this or some similar 

 sampUng method to dehmit the areas frequented by Xiphias fry. 



As we shall see later, catches of the young stages of Xiphias in the Dana collection 

 presumably were chiefly taken while the nets were being hauled in, especially when 

 these nets, which had no closing device, were fishing the surface layers just before 

 being hauled in over the ship's side. Furthermore the adult swordfish is a solitary 

 creature and never moves in schools. The scattered catches of the young stages sug- 

 gests that this habit may be established very early in development. 



So few Xiphias fry have been reported that they provide only a very Umited amount 

 of data for determining the more important spawning areas, the seasonal occurrence, 

 and the vertical and horizontal distribution. Similarly, it is difficult to deduce the 

 relationship between the distribution of the fry and environmental factors. Never- 

 theless, the material at hand does yield more information than has previously been 

 obtained from earUer, more scattered observations. Therefore, I shall outUne the 

 chief points that appear to be indicated by the evidence at hand with the hope that 

 eventually sufficient data will be accumulated to outUne the complete life history of 

 this interesting fish. 



The map (Fig. 2) with the locations from which Danish vessels have taken specimens 

 of Xiphias fry shows that the material comes almost exclusively from the area around 

 the West Indies and the southern part of the Sargasso Sea, and from Indo-Malaya. 

 The former area has yielded by far the greater proportion of these since the Sargasso 

 Sea area has been fished especially intensively and at various times of year. The 

 present paper chiefly aims, therefore, to add to our knowledge of the breeding areas 

 of Xiphias in the western part of the North Atlantic. 



HORIZONTAL DISTRIBUTION OF FRY 



Most of the Xiphias specimens from the western part of the North Atlantic were 

 taken on the expeditions of the Motor Schooner Dana in April- July 1920, and in 

 February-May 1921, furthermore, on the expeditions of the Research Steamer Dana 

 in November-April 1921-1922, and in August 1928. These voyages were under- 

 taken in connection with the investigations of Johs. Schmidt on the breeding areas 

 of the fresh water eel and most of the stations were therefore taken in the Sargasso 

 Sea and adjacent areas.* 



We will first consider the distribution of catches of Xiphias fry from this area, and 

 the temperature conditions at the locaUties where they occurred. The captures of 



* See list of references for the reports of these expeditions. From these it can be seen how extensive 

 is the network of Dana stations in the Atlantic. 



