408 NEW YORK STATE MUSEfUM 



less than that of the body, second dorsal very small, on the 

 tail, opposite the small second anal. In the yoimg, teeth are 

 present, and the two dorsal fins are connected, the fin being 

 elevated as in the species of I s t i o p h o r u s . First anal sim- 

 ilar to first dorsal, but smaller, less falcate, and far behind it^ 

 pectoral fins moderate, falcate; skin naked, more or less rough, 

 specially in the young, which have rudimentary scales; sword 

 tlattened and trenchant; caudal keel single; intestines long, sinu- 

 ous; air bladder ^simple; pelvic arch obsolete. Fishes of great 

 size, reaching a weight of 300 to 400 pounds, the flesh red and 

 rich in flavor, highly valued as food. (After Jordan and Ever- 



mann) 



204 Xiphias gladius Linnaeus 



Sicordfish 



Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed.X, 1, 248, 1758, Europe; BLOCH.Ichth. 

 pi, 76, 1784; Mitchill, Am. Month. Mag. II, 242, Feb. 1818; Cuvier & 

 Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. VIII, 255, pi. 225, 226. 1831; De Kay, 

 N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 111, pi. 26, fig. 79, 1842; Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. 

 Mus. II, 511, 1860; Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass. 71, pi. XIII, fig. 2, 1867; 

 GooDE & Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 14, 1879; Jordan & Gilbert, 

 Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 420, 1883; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. 

 Nat. Mus. 894, 1896; Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. XVII, 97, 1S98. 



Body fusiform, tapering greatly toward the caudal fin, the 

 head not long, but with a very long upper jaw produced into a 

 beak or '' sword," the greatest depth of the body one sixth 

 of total length to base of caudal, the least hight of caudal pedun- 

 cle nearly equal to length of eye. The upper jaw is three times 

 as long as the rest of the head; the "sword'' is broad and 

 rather thin. The lower jaw extends in front of the eye a space 

 equal lo one half of postorbital part of head. The angle of the 

 mouth is well Ix'hind the eye. The eye is circular, its diameter 

 oin' IliinI of i>ostorbital part of head and about -rr; of total 

 length of licad. The dorsal begins over the upper angle of the 

 gill opening; if is very high, nearly as high as the body, strongly 

 fill) ;it<', its upper margin deeply concave, and the posterior rays 

 very short. The distance between the dorsals is less than one 

 llind of leiiMtii of head. The second dorsal is very small, its 

 l)ase only one half as long as the eye. and its hight one and four 



