Other Game Fish 209 



the Mediterranean peoples have for centuries considered it 

 highly edible. Recently, also, east coast sportsmen have awak- 

 ened to the fact that the fish which they had been traveling 

 to California to catch had a summer colony in their home 

 waters, and one of them has taken a tuna weighing over nine 

 hundred and fifty pounds. But, as one Massachusetts ichthy- 

 ologist has remarked, "No one has yet succeeded in subdu- 

 ing a really large tuna on rod and reel." This is perhaps the 

 New Englander's quiet way of pointing out to the Cali- 

 fornian that his tuna do not compare in size with those found 

 on the effete east coast. But, regardless of size, the tuna dis- 

 appears from New England when winter comes just as com- 

 pletely as from California, and its spawning is just as much 

 of a mystery. 



SWORDFISH 



The swordfish is the greatest fighter of them all, for it 

 not only fights to get away from the fisherman, as all good 

 game fish do, but it sometimes turns and carries the fight to 

 him, especially when harpooned. It has been known to swim 

 at his boat and drive its sword through the planks. Whether 

 this attack is intentional, or just happens in the course of its 

 blind rushes, we do not know, but in any case it gives the 

 fisherman a thrill. The psychology of these animals is diffi- 

 cult to understand, for it is hard to see why they should 

 attack ships, and yet there are indisputable records which 

 prove that they do. One rammed ^ China clipper so vio- 

 lently that she leaked, and there was great to-do in the law 

 courts as to whether the resulting damages should be paid by 

 the insurance companies, or whether it was an act of God not 

 included in ordinary marine risks. And there are records of a 

 ship's hull being penetrated to a depth of eight inches by a 

 swordfish sword. The speed and weight which could drive 

 the weapon this far into wooden planking at a single blow 

 can only be imagined. 



