118 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Genus XIPHIAS. 
No ventral fins. In adult specimens the anterior part of the dorsal fin is pointed and falciform. The “sword” 
fiat and two-edged. The middle caudal carina high; no small carince in adult specimens, though they may he 
distinguished during youth". 
Only one species is known within this genus with its classical Greek name * 6 . 
THE SWORDFISH. 
XIPHIAS GLADIUS. 
Plate IX, fig. 1. 
Back lustrous dark-blue, sides grayish-blue, belly silvery. 
B - 7; D ■ i 5 (W 3 - 4; SKIT )' 3 - 61 * 2 + 14; y.o, 
G. x. + 15 1. 1(5 + x. 
Syn. Xipliias seu Gladius pisc-is, Gesn., Hist. Anim. (Francof. 1620), 
Lib. IV, pp. 379 et 1049. 
Xipliias , Lin., Fn. Suec., ed. 1 , p. 108. 
Xiphias gladius , Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 248; Kolpin, 
Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1770, p. 5; 1771, p. 115; Rets., Fn. 
Suec. Lin., p. 316; Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. VIII, 
p. 255, tab. 225, 226, 231; Niels. Prodr. Ichth. Scand., 
p. 108; Kroy., Damn. Fiske, vol. I, p. 253; Nokdm., De- 
mid. Voy. Russ. Mer., p. 393; Ekstr., Gbgs Vet., Vitt. 
Samh. Handl., Ny Tidsf., H. 1, p. 37 ; Nilss., Skand. Fn., 
Fisk., p. 147; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. II, p. 511; 
Lindstr., Gotl. Fiskar, Gotl. Lans Hush. Sallsk. Arsber., 
1866, p. 25 (sep.); Wallengren, Ofvers. Vet.-Akad. Forh. 
1866, ii. 5; Coll., Vid. Selsk. Forh. 1874, Tillsegsh., p. 
51; 1879, p. 33; CederstrSm, divers. Vet.-Akad. Forh. 
1876, No. 4, p. 64; Malm, Gbgs, Boh. Fn., p. 423; Win- 
ther, Naturh. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 16; Id., 
Zool. Dan., Fiske, p. 25, tab. IV, fig. 6; Day, Fish. G:t 
Brit., Irel., vol. I, p. 146, tab. XLIX; Mob., Hcke, Fische 
d. Ostsee, p. 36; Br. -Goode, Mater. Hist. Sword Fishes , 
Wash. 1883; Id., Fish. Industr. U. S., part. I, p. 336, 
tab. 115; Coll., N. Mag. f. Naturv. Christ., Bd. 29 (1884), 
p. 60; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fiskar, vol. I, p. 380. 
The fusiform body of the Swordfish is so elong- 
ated that in full-grown specimens the length is 6 times 
the depth; but the young specimens are still more 
elongated — at a length of 75 cm. the length of the 
body is nearly 8 times the greatest depth, and at a 
length of 37 mm. about 15 times' 7 . In specimens 75 
cm. long the greatest depth of the body is about 1 / 3 
of the distance from the point of the “sword” to the 
hind margin of the eye, in specimens half this size 
about V 4 and in specimens 37 mm. long only slightly 
over Ve- I n adult specimens the greatest depth is about 
half-way along the high lobe of the first dorsal fin, 
behind the insertion of the pectoral fins. The length 
of the head, that of the sword included, varies in full- 
grown Swordfish between 40 and 45 % of the length 
of the body: in specimens 75 cm. long the head is 
almost as long as the trunk from the gill-opening to 
the base of the middle caudal rays. In young speci- 
mens, as we have mentioned, the lower jaw is com- 
paratively much longer than in adult, and in specimens 
about 20 cm. in length * may be only slightly shorter 
than the upper jaw; in specimens 75 cm. in length 
the length of the head from the point of the lower 
jaw is about 26 % of the length of the body; and in 
adult specimens the length of this part of the head is 
about equal to the greatest depth of the body and 
about 16 % of the length. Even in adult specimens 
the length of the lower jaw varies considerably: in 
specimens from 2 to 4 metres long it varies between 
15 and 11 % of the length of the body. The length 
of the snout from the anterior margin of the eye varies 
in full-grown specimens between 70 and 75 % of the 
length of the head; the diameter of the eye is about 
6 % of the length of the head or somewhat less than 
half the breadth of the interorbital space. The 
eye is thus small in proportion to the length of the 
° Lutken, Spot. Atl., 1. c. p. 446. 
6 Bicplaq, Arist. etc., see Artedi, Syn., p. 47. 
c Lutken, also mentions a specimen 19 cm. in length, where the greatest depth was only 10 mm. 
d See Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., plate XLIX, fig. 2. 
