THE SWORDFISHES 



Family XXXVL Xiphiida 



THESE are fishes of great size, with long, naked body; upper 

 jaw very much prolonged, forming a "sword," which is flat- 

 tened horizontally; no teeth in the adult; dorsal fin very long; 

 no ventral fins. 



The single species of this family is Xiphias gladius, the com- 

 mon swordfish, or espada, a fish of very wide distribution. It 

 occurs on both coasts of the Atlantic, being most frequent 

 between Cuba and Cape Breton: not rare off Cape Cod and on 

 the Grand Banks; rather common in Southern Europe. It occurs 

 also in the Pacific, and is occasionally taken about the Santa 

 Barbara Islands. An enormous fish of the open seas, rivalling the 

 largest sharks in size, and of immense strength of muscle. 



The swordfish attracted the attention of the earliest voyagers 

 to America. As early as 1674, Josselyn, in his " Account of 

 Two Voyages to New England," wrote: "And in the afternoon 

 we saw a great fish called the Vehuella or Sword-fish, having a 

 long, strong and sharp finn, like a sword-blade on the top of 

 his head, with which he pierced our Ship, and broke it off with 

 striving to get loose. One of our sailors dived and brought it 

 aboard." 



The maximum size of the swordfish is 600 to 800 pounds, 

 though examples of more than 400 pounds are not often seen. 



The species is rather abundant for so large a fish. Off the 

 New England Coast 3,000 to 6,000 of these fish are taken every 

 year. Twenty-five or more are sometimes seen in a single day. 

 One fisherman killed 108 in one year. 



The food of the swordfish consists chiefly of the common 

 schooling species of fishes, such as the menhaden, herring, mackerel, 

 bonito and bluefish. They are said to rise beneath a school of 

 small fish, striking to the right and left with their swords until 

 they have killed a number, which they then proceed to devour 



293 



