THE HOPtSE-MACKERELS AND THEIR ALLIES. 363 



at any rate as the Moray Firtli.^ Its greatest weight 

 is about 1 8 lbs., but the average would be nearer 5 lbs. 



Easily recognised from all other living fishes by the 

 curious sword -like growth on the snout, from which it 

 derives its name, the Sword-fish, which grows 

 to a length of at least 10 feet, is occasionally 

 entangled in the mackerel nets on our south-west coast, 

 and, more rarely, farther north. Another conspicuous 

 feature of this fish is the high dorsal fin, particularly 

 noticeable when, as not seldom happens, the sword-fish is 

 observed basking at the surface. It is endowed with great 

 strength and activity, and is known to attack with its only 

 weapon both whales and ships. 



The Maigre, practically the Jew - fish of Australian 

 waters, is a large and handsome fish, growing to a weight 

 Maigre or of near 400 lbs. We used to fish for its an- 

 Sciaena. tarctic equivalent with a live bait weighing 



as much as a pound. In British seas, it is taken only 

 casually in the mackerel-nets. In colour, dark grey, with 

 metallic reflections, above, white beneath. 



The Hairtail that occasionally visits our coasts hails 

 from the West Indies. Examples, the largest of which 

 Hairtail or bad a length of 2^ feet, have from time 

 Blade-fish, to time been taken on the south-west coast. 

 The tail, lacking the usual fin, tapers to a point. 



The Scabbard-fish is the famous " Frost-fish," for which 

 such prices are paid in New Zealand, on the shores of 

 Scabbard- which it is cast up in winter-time. It has 

 ^^^- also occurred in our seas about a dozen times. 



It is a band-like fish with a long dorsal fin and a small 

 fin at the end of the tail. (The " scabbard-fish," figured on 

 p. 261 of the ' Eoyal Natural History,' would apj)ear to 

 1 Harvie-Browu and Buckley, Fauna of Siitlierland, p. 262. 



