Percomorphi 271 
“It is the universal testimony of our fishermen that two 
are never seen swimming close together. Capt. Ashby says 
that they are always distant from each other at least thirty 
or forty feet. 
“The pugnacity of the swordfish has become a byword. 
Without any special effort on my part numerous instances of 
their attacks upon vessels have in the last ten years found their 
way into the pigeon-hole. labeled ‘Swordfish.’”’ 
Swordfishes are common on both shores of the Atlantic 
wherever mackerel run. They do not breed on our shores, 
but probably do so in the Mediterranean and other warm seas. 
They are rare off the California coast, but five records existing 
(Anacapa, Santa Barbara, Santa Catalina, San Diego, off Cerros 
Island). The writer has seen two large individuals in the 
market of Yokohama, but it is scarcely known in Japan. As 
a food-fish, the swordfish is one of the best, its dark-colored 
oily flesh, though a little coarse, making most excellent steaks. 
Its average weight on our coast is about 300 pounds, the 
maximum 625. 
The swordfish undergoes great change in the process of de- 
velopment, the very young having the head armed with rough 
spines and in nowise resembling the adult. 
Fossil swordfishes are unknown, or perhaps cannot be dis- 
tinguished from remains of Istiophoride. 
