SWORDFISH 



to Captain Michaux weighed six hundred and twenty- 

 eight. The average about Block Island he con- 

 siders to be two hundred pounds. 



The size of the smallest swordfish taken on our 

 eastern coast is a subject of much deeper interest, 

 for it throws light on the time and place of breed- 

 ing. There is some difference of testimony regard- 

 ing the average size, but all fishermen with whom I 

 have talked agree that very small ones do not find 

 their way into our shore waters. Numerous very 

 small specimens have, however, been already taken 

 by the Fish Commission at sea, off oiu" middle and 

 southern coast. 



Capt. John Rowe has seen one which did not weigh 

 more than seventy-five pounds when taken out of 

 the water. 



Capt. R. H. Hurlbert killed near Block Island, in 

 July, 1877, one which weighed fifty pounds and 

 measured about two feet without its sword. 



Captain Ashby's smallest weighed about twenty- 

 five pounds when dressed; this he killed off No 

 Man's Land. He tells me that a Bridgeport smack 

 had one weighing sixteen pounds (or probably 

 twenty-four when alive), and measuring eighteen 

 inches without its sword. 



In August, 1878, a small specimen of the mackerel- 

 shark, Lamna cornubica, was captured at the mouth 

 of Gloucester Harbor. In its nostril was sticking a 

 sword, about three inches long, of a young swordfish. 

 When this was pulled out the blood flowed freely, 

 indicating that the wound was recent- The fish to 

 which this sword belonged cannot have exceeded 

 ten or twelve inches in length. Whether the small 



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