640 



THE OCEAN WOtiLD. 



This fish attains a great size, being found in the Mediterranean 

 and Atlantic, in company with the tunny, from five to six feet in 

 length. Its body is lengthy, and covered with minute scales, the 

 sword forming three-tenths of its length. On the back it bears a 

 single long dorsal fin ; the tail is keeled, the lower jaw is sharp, the 

 mouth toothless, the upper part of the fish bluish-black, merging into 



Fig. 400. Fishing for Sword-fish in the Straits of Messina. 



silver beneath. It seems to have a natural desire to exercise towards 

 and against all the weapon with which Nature has furnished it ; it 

 darts with the utmost fury upon the most formidable moving bodies ; 

 it attacks the whale ; and there are numerous and well-authenticated 

 instances of ships being perforated by the weapon of this powerful 

 creature. 



In 1 7 25, some carpenters having occasion to examine the bottom 

 of a ship which had just returned from the tropical seas, found the 

 snout of a sword-fish buried deep in the timbers of the ship. They 



