t6o giant fishes 



in which the transfixed " spear " has been thrust through no 

 less than 22 inches. There is a case on record of the ship 

 " Dreadnought ", which sprang a leak when voyaging from 

 Ceylon to London, and on examination it was found that a 

 hole about an inch in diameter had been neatly punched in 

 the copper sheathing of the vessel. When a claim was duly 

 made, the insurance company denied their liability, holding 

 that the damage had been caused by some agent other than a 

 fish, but when the case was taken to court the jury returned 

 a verdict that the puncture had been brought about " by 

 contact with some substance other than water " and added a 

 rider to the effect that it was probably caused by a " Sword- 

 fish ". 



A number of other records of damage believed to have been 

 caused by these fishes might be cited, and, after considering 

 them, we are driven to conclude that some, at least, have been 

 deliberate attacks, the fish presumably mistaking the ship for 

 a whale. On the other hand, it seems more than likely that 

 many of the occurrences are no more premeditated than, say, 

 the head-on collision between two powerful motors at cross- 

 roads, and may be due to like causes, not the least important 

 of which is an inability to apply the brakes in time ! Some 

 would explain all the damage done to ships along such lines, 

 even suggesting that the " spear " is not an offensive weapon 

 at all, but merely represents an extreme case of streamlining, 

 and acts as a super cut-water. 



The principal food of the Spear-fishes consists of other 

 fishes, mackerels, sardines, flying-fishes and bonitoes being 

 expecially favoured, but squids and cuttlefishes are also eaten 

 in large numbers. They pursue the moving shoals of these 

 fishes for days on end, and it is easy to believe that the appear- 

 ance of one or two hungry Spear-fishes will cause something 

 akin to panic among the prospective prey. Rising among a 

 shoal of fishes, they have been described as striking viciously 

 to right and left with the rostrum, afterwards feeding at 

 leisure upon the dead and wounded victims. 



The natural enemies of the Spear-fishes themselves seem 

 to be large sharks, which have been observed chasing them in 

 the open sea. On more than one occasion the remains of a 

 Spear-fish have been taken from the stomach of a large Tiger 



