last bone having a long portion nrcjecting poEteriorlyo Some 

 differences between species can be detected with regard to their 

 height and length„ 



iio Viscera 



The mouth cavity is large^ and the tongue is slender and 

 toothlessc In the fishes of the fairdly Istiophoridae the body 

 cavity is long, extending even posterior to the anus and 

 reaching the vicinity of the origin of the first anal fin,, 

 The anus is in an advanced position about the length of the 

 base of the first anal fin away from the origin of that fin. 

 The esophagus is rather long and its walls are thicko The 

 stomach is long and conical with its posterior tip sxtendir<t 

 to roughly above the anus., Its walls are toughs vath many 

 folds on the inner wallso The intestine opens near the cardiac 

 orificeo The intestine is slander and its outer wall is smooth 

 with no corrugationso Near the posterior end of the duodenal 

 portion arc the pyloric caeca completely surrounding the 

 intestine„ This part of the intestine is somewhat swolleno 

 Posterior to this point it rune straight until the approximate 

 middle of the body cavity, where there is a loopo The portion 

 of the intestine posterior to the loop is joined to the anterior 

 portion and runs anteriorly as far as the posterior end of the 

 pyloric caeca. It curves gently around the posterior edge of 

 the caeca and thence runs straight to the anuso 



The total length of the intestine is remarkably short in 

 relation to the body length, being only about half as longo 

 The liver is small and covers part of the stomach and the pyloric 

 caecao The caeca are numerous and each one does not open 

 directly into the intestine, but they are connected to the 

 intestine by a number of dendriform tubeso The gall bladder is 

 long and slender and is separate from the livero The spleen 

 is large and conspicuouso The form of these various viscera 

 is very similar to that of the Thunnidaeo 



The gonads are generally symmetrically paired, but in the 

 short-nosed marlin they are unsymmetrical and have a peculiar 

 form, being Y-shaped with the right side short and joined to 

 the left gonad by its posterior endo The point where they join 

 is approximately above the anus and there is a short oviducto 

 The left gonad is long and its posterior end extends posterior 

 to the anuSo 



The kidneys are rather long, and the end of the ureter is 

 expanded forming what may be called a urinary bladder. 



The air bladder is very paculiarp being many-chambered 

 like a mass of bubbleSj and covering nearly all of the dorsal 

 surface of the body cavityo These small chambers are arranged 

 more or less symraetrically in pairs on the right and left and 



38 



