282 



THE SWORD-FISH. 





it is possible that the fish may have struck them by accident and not in a deliberate 

 charge. The Sword-fish generally go in pairs. 



The food of this creature is rather varied, consisting of cuttle-fish, especially the squid, 

 and of small fishes, neither of which animals would in any way fall victims to the sword. 

 It certainly has been said that the weapon is used for transfixing the flat fish as they 

 lie on the bed of the sea, but this assertion does not appear to be worthy of credit. 



The young and adult specimens are very different from each other. In the young, the 

 body is covered with projecting tubercles, which gradually disappear as it increases in 

 size, and when it has attained the length of three feet, they are seldom to be seen. Those 

 on the abdomen remain longer than the others. The dorsal fin extends in the young 

 specimens from the back of the head to the root of the tail, but the membranes and 

 spines of its centre are so extremely delicate, that they are soon rubbed away, and the 

 adult specimen then appears to have two dorsal fins. 



The color of the Sword-fish is bluish black above, and silvery white below. The 



5WORD.PISH.-X/pA/as gladius. 



whole body is rough, and the lateral line is almost invisible. The usual length of the 

 Sword-fish is from ten to twelve feet, but specimens have been seen which much exceed 

 those dimensions. A few examples of the Sword-fish have been captured in British 

 waters ; one, that measured seven feet in length, was taken off Margate. 



THE very curious fish shown in the engraving is a representative of a genus of 

 Sword-fishes that have been separated from the previous genus on account of the very 

 great height of the dorsal fin. 



The SAILOR SWORD-FISH is sometimes called the FAN-FISH, or SAIL-FISH, and is said to 

 possess the power of raising or lowering the enormous dorsal fin just as a lady opens or 

 closes her fan. Sir J. Emerson Tennent mentions this fish in the following terms : 

 " In the seas around Ceylon, Sword-fishes sometimes attain to the length of twenty feet, 

 and are distinguished by the unusual height of the dorsal fin. Those both of the Atlantic 

 and Mediterranean possess this fin in its full proportions only during the earlier stages of 

 their growth. Its dimensions even then are much smaller than in the Indian species ; 



