248 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
Family XIPHIIDA. 
The Sword Fishes. 
Body elongate. Upper jaw very much prolonged, forming a 
“sword,” which is flattened horizontally and composed of the 
consolidated vomer, ethmoid and premaxillaries. Teeth want- 
ing in adult, present in young. Gills of peculiar structure, 
laminz of each arch joined into 1 plate by reticulations. Gills 4, 
a slit behind fourth. Gill-membranes separate, free from isthmus. 
Pseudobranchiz present. Branchiostegals 7. Air-vessel present. 
Pyloric coeca very numerous. Intestinal canal long, with many 
folds. Vertebre short, 14 + 12==26 in number, neural and 
heemal spines normal. Ribs very few. Skin naked, young cov- 
ered with rough granulations. Very young or larval individuals 
differing much from adults, fins high, both jaws prolonged into a 
beak, and head armed with long spines. Dorsal fin long, usually 
divided in adult, continuous in young, without differentiated spin- 
ous part, both parts composed of soft rays, posterior portion 
much smaller than anterior and placed on tail resembling second 
dorsal of shark, and fin rays enveloped in skin. Anal fin divided 
in adult. Caudal peduncle slender, with strong median keel. 
Caudal fin widely forked in adult. Ventral fins entirely wanting, 
no pelvic arch. 
A single species, an enormous fish in the open sea rivaling the 
largest sharks in size and of immense strength of muscle. Occa- 
sional on our coast. 
Genus X1PHIAS Linnzeus. 
The Sword Fishes. 
Xiphias gladius Linneus. 
Sword Fish. 
Distinguished from any of our other fishes by the prolonged 
snout, which is very long, pointed, flattened and trenchant. 
