elongated, their anterior margins being rounded and their posterior 

 margins somewhat concave with the posterior point sharpo The neural 

 spines of the abdominal vertebrae are arranged roughly m echelono 



The dorsal surfaces are dark purplish-blue, while the ventral 

 surfaces are rather brownish, but the overall color is blackish. The 

 scales come off more easily than in other species, and where they are 

 removed the coloration of the fish is browno The first dorsal and^ 

 first anal fins are cobalt in color, but when exposed for a long time 

 to the air, they become dark blueo In extremely rare cases, there are 

 a number of dark blue round spots on the highest portion of the first 

 dorsal fino All of the other fins are dark blue in colore There are 

 a number of vertical stripes of cobalt color on the sides of the body. 

 The flash is of the so-called "spearfish color", and in early spring 

 the fat content is high and the flesh is particularly deliciouso 



This species is widely distributed in the warm seas of the 

 Pacific and Indian Oceans, and appears to be generally abundant in 

 the Equatorial Current and the Kuro shiOo The peak of its spawning 

 season in f'ormosan waters is in Juneo 



This species is second in size to the white marlin, Marlina 

 marlina, and attains a body length of 3,000 millimeters and a 

 weight of 500 kilogramso 



The author has previously reported this species as Makaira mazara 

 (Jordan and Snyder), but in the original description of M^ mazara there 

 is no mention made of the peculiar form of lateral line which is found 

 in this specieso Furthermore, the photograph of Jordan and Evermann's 

 type of M, mazara clearly differs from E_o nigra as described here, and 

 is eithe~identical with or extremely close to Kajikia mitsukurii o 

 The new genus has been established and this fish has been reported as 

 a new species on the basis of these facts. 



Fiunily Xiphiidae 



The body is elongate, but there is hardly any lateral compressiono 

 There is one large keel on each side of the caudal peduncle. The scales 

 disappear in the adult fish, but the skin in the pectoral region is 

 coarse and has soraev/hat the feel of shark skino Teeth are present in 

 juvenile specimens, but these too disappear in the adult fish. The 

 dorsal and the anal fins are both single, continuous fins in Juvenile 

 fish, however, in adult fish each is divided into two fins separated by 

 a large spaceo There is no trace of ventral fins. The snout is long^ 

 with the form of a two-edged sword, and there is no predentary bone at 

 the tip of the lower jaw. 



There is one genus ( Xiphias Linnaeus t, 1758) containing one species. 

 It is of cosmopolitan distribution in the tropical and temperate seas 

 of the whole world, and occasionally appears in waters of rather high 

 latitudes, 



66 



