TALES OF FISHES 



seem advantageous to use in this country the name 

 "cutlass-fish," which is current for the same species 

 in the British West Indies. 



Its appearance is very remarkable on account of 

 its long, compressed form and its glistening, silvery 

 color. The name "scabbard-fish," which has been 

 given to an allied species in Europe, would be very 

 proper also for this species, for in general shape and 

 appearance it looks very like the metallic scabbard 

 of the sword. It attains the length of four or five 

 feet, though ordinarily not exceeding twenty-five or 

 thirty inches. This species is found in the tropical 

 Atlantic, on the coast of Brazil, in the Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia, the West Indies, the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 north to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where, during 

 the past ten years, specimens have been occasionally 

 taken. In 1845 one was found at Wellfleet, Massa- 

 chusetts; and in the Essex Institute is a specimen 

 which is said to have been found on the shores of 

 the Norway Frith many years ago, and during the 

 past decade it has become somewhat abundant in 

 southern England. It does not, however, enter the 

 Mediterranean. Some writers believed the allied 

 species, Trichiurus haumela, found in the Indian 

 Ocean and Archipelago and in various parts of the 

 Pacific, to be specifically the same. 



The cutlass-fish is abundant in the St. John's 

 River, Florida, in the Indian River region, and in 

 the Gulf of Mexico. Several instances were related 

 to me in which these fish had thrown themselves 

 from the water into rowboats, a feat which might 

 be very easily performed by a lithe, active species 

 like the Trichiurus. A small one fell into a boat 



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