CHAPTER XXVII 

 ON THE TRAIL OF THE SAILFISH 



HERE are three sorts of fishes of the swordfish 

 kind, long, wiry, muscular fishes, swift as an 

 arrow, and with the bones of the upper jaw 

 grown together and produced in a long sharp 

 sword. This sword is different from the paddle which sev- 

 eral sorts of fishes possess, in being hard, firm and tapering 

 almost to a point. It is, moreover, different from the flat 

 board or saw with teeth on each side with which the sawfish 

 and the saw shark thresh into fricassee the schools of sar- 

 dines on which they prey. The sword of the swordfish is 

 fit only for piercing, and it can be thrust through a man or a 

 whale or the bottom of a boat. For the rest the swordfishes 

 are gigantic mackerel, and in substance and habits they are 

 enough like the leaping tuna. 



Of the three sorts of sword-bearing mackerels, the great 

 swordfish (Xiphias) itself is the one best known. Its dorsal 

 fin is low and divided into two ; its spear is longer and 

 stronger than in the others, and the jaws are without any 

 teeth. You may know the swordfish at all times because, 

 having a sword, it has no ventral fins. The swordfish 

 reaches a weight of three hundred to four hundred pounds, 

 and while widely diffused over the world, it is mainly com- 

 mon off the coast of our Eastern and Middle States and in 

 the corresponding waters of Europe. It is often taken at 

 Santa Catalina, and occasionally also in Japan. The flesh 

 of the swordfish is red and rich, of excellent flavor. 



The spearfishes have a shorter and slenderer sword. The 

 body is slenderer also, and the dorsal fin, as in the sword- 



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