to the markets. Towards 6 months the fishes weigh some 13 pounds. On the coasts of the 

 United States they are rarely less than 650 pounds, while some exceed a length of 16 feet and 

 can attain a weight of 650 to 900 pounds. Although it is not a rare fish, very few facts are known 

 concerning swordfish biology. The most extravagant tales have been told about it; that it 

 attacked whalebone whales and transfixed boats. When it is wounded it may well turn furiously 

 on its pursuers, but otherwise it appears to be quite harmless and even timid. 



While these strong swimmers hurtle at top speed through the seas, there are slower and 

 lazier creatures in the surface waters of the open ocean, such as the sunfishes (Mola inola). 

 The body is rounded and very compressed, with a scalloped hinder margin formed by the caudal 

 fin and carries very high dorsal and anal fins. The small mouth is formed into a firm beak 

 and the thick skin is lined with a layer of tough gristly material. Sunfishes certainly look 

 grotesque creatures and their intelligence is at least very limited : the brain of a 450 pound 

 sunfish weighs about 1 h oz. These stupid fishes live in the encroaching water masses (trans- 

 gressions) and in summer they can be seen floating, motionless and asleep, lying on one side. 

 To gafT them it is possible to get quite close without waking them. But they have a vague 

 sense of danger and move away, swaying heavily from side to side and making a loud noise. 

 When they are caught they begin grunting and in every sense of the word, roll their large, blue, 

 black-encircled eyes. Sunfishes can reach a weight of a ton. 



Once it was not uncommon for the look-out of a sea-going vessel to spot a piece of floating 

 wreckage. If for lack of wind the ship was stopped, a boat was soon lowered to see what this 

 object might be. They hoped it might be a cask full of good wine or rum. Very often these 

 hopes were dashed, only a tree trunk or an empty barrel or one half-full of water being found. 

 Hanging from this floating wood would be the brown stalks of goose-barnacles (Lepas analifera) 

 each ending in a bluish shell, shaped like a duck's bill. In the shade of the wreckage, protected 

 from the sun's rays, a large grey fish might be seen, this being the wreckfish (Polyprion ameri- 

 caniis). These fishes have a rough head, set with bony tubercles and the gill-cover bears a 

 strong, transverse crest. Swimming around the wreckfish, which grows to a length of at least 

 6 feet, small fishes of the genus Liriis might be seen. These, like the, wreckfish, feed on the 

 barnacles and " escort " the wreckage. Failing good wine, the sailors would take back enough 

 of them to improve their daily fare, for these animals have an excellent flesh. The boat would 

 be hastily hauled in, because the wind was freshening. The four-masted barque would resume 

 her majestic course in the boundless ocean. 



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