SWORDFISH 



they have once learned its charms. An old swordfish 

 fisherman, who had followed the pursuit for twenty 

 years, told me that when he was on the cruising- 

 ground, he fished all night in his dreams, and that 

 many a time he has rubbed the skin off his knuckles 

 by striking them against the ceiling of his bunk 

 when he raised his arms to thrust the harpoon into 

 visionary monster swordfishes. 



The Spear-fish or Bill-fish 



The bill-fish or spear-fish, Tetrapturus indicus 

 (with various related forms, which may or may not 

 be specifically identical), occurs in the western 

 Atlantic from the West Indies (latitude 10° to 20° 

 N.) to southern England (latitude 40° N.); in the 

 eastern Atlantic, from Gibraltar (latitude 45° N.) 

 to the Cape of Good Hope (latitude 30° S.) in the 

 Indian Ocean, the Malay Archipelago, New Zea- 

 land (latitude 40° S.), and on the west coast of Chile 

 and Peru, In a general way, the range is between 

 latitude 40° N. and latitude 40° S. 



The species of Tetrapturus which we have been 

 accustomed to call T. albidus, abundant about Cuba, 

 is not very usual on the coast of southern New Eng- 

 land. Several are taken every year by the sword- 

 fish fishermen. I have not known of their capture 

 along the southern Atlantic coast of the United 

 States. All I have known about were taken between 

 Sandy Hook and the eastern part of Georges Banks. 



The Mediterranean spear-fish, Tetrapturus balone, 

 appears to be a landlocked form, never passing west 

 of the Straits of Gibraltar. 



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