specimens are seen in which it has heen broken off to various 

 degrees o In these cases the broken part is already healed 

 showing the passage of a certain amount of time after the 

 damage vms doneo Sometimes as a result of such injury the 

 upper jaw is made even shorter than the lower jawo A considera- 

 tion of such damage suffered under natural conditions makes it 

 possible to believe that the spear is used as a weapon against 

 large enemies o 



In general these fishes migrate widely in the open seas, 

 but they do not form dense schools like the tunas and skipjacks 

 and the individuals are usually dispersed at rather wide 

 intervals o The marlins sometimes swim along the surface in a 

 line of two or more individuals j, and this sort of formation is 

 seen with particular frequency in the spawning seasono 



lAIhen caught on a hook or harpooned the tunas for the most 

 part try to escape in a vertical direction by diving deeps but 

 these fishes first make several repeated leaps into the air and 

 then swim wildly in broad circles near the surfaceo 



In general they do not come into the coastal water areas 

 very muchj although certain species sometimes do,, The sailfish 

 is an example of thiso They also sometimes become resident on 

 shoal areaso In some species there are differences in size 

 between the males and females, and there also seem to be dif- 

 ferences in the migrational patterns of the sexeso 



iio Food habits 



These fishes are also carnivorous and their food resembles 

 that of the tunas„ Since they lack gill-rakers it may be 

 thought that they cannot pick up very small feedj but in the 

 open sea they sometimes feed on small fishes and crustaceans 

 just as the yellowfin doo Rather large fishes such as skipjack 

 and mackerel are frequently found in their stomachs, but as 

 previously noted they show no signs of stab wounds and commonly 

 have the marks of bites on their bodieso When the position of 

 these large food items in the stomach is considered, it can be 

 clearly judged that they were swallowed head firsto In view of 

 the fact that their food differs depending on the area in which 

 they were taken, and with the season within the same area, it 

 cannot be thought, just as was the case with the tunas, that 

 they have any particular taste in food, and it should probably 

 be considered that they feed on whatever is most abundant in 

 the area, or on what is most easily sighted or caughto 



They feed chiefly on live foodj, but like the tunas they 

 will also take dead bait and can be caught even on salted fisho 

 Since they are often taken on trolling lines with artificial 



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