SWORDFISH. 
119 
body and of the head, but in comparison with the 
width of the cheek it is large, and indicates, as Win- 
ther has remarked, that the Swordfish, sometimes at 
least, seeks its food in the deeper (darker) parts of the 
sea. Scarcely half the postorbital portion of the head 
is occupied by the cheeks (to the hind margin of the 
preoperculum), and the rest is formed by the oper- 
culum. In adult specimens the thickness (height) of 
the sword at its base is only 1 / 3 of the breadth; but 
in young specimens the thickness rises as high as 1 / 2 
the breadth, and the form of the sword thus approaches 
its terete form in the other two genera, which in other 
respects, too, represent the juvenile stages of the family. 
On the side of the nose, on a level with the upper 
margin of the eye, lie the two round nostrils, the 
posterior being considerably larger than the anterior 
and the distance between it and the eye being about 
2 / 3 of the orbital diameter. The forehead is flat; the 
cheeks fall perpendicularly from it. The operculum is 
quadrilateral, almost square, thin and striated; its height 
is about 4 times that of the suboperculum, which is 
of nearly the same length, and the lower margin of 
which almost entirely forms the lower edge of the gill- 
cover, for the interoperculum is only a comparatively 
small triangle inserted between the suboperculum, the 
preoperculum and the lower jaw. The preoperculum, 
too, is remarkably short (in its horizontal branch) but 
of ordinary height. The forms of the dorsal, anal, 
and caudal fins and the changes due to age are given 
above. The apex of the dorsal fin is formed by the 
first branched rays and reaches a height which is but 
slightly less than the greatest depth of the body and is 
about equal to or even exceeds the length of the falci- 
form pectoral fins. The lateral line is scarcely distin- 
guishable, but it fairly closely follows the curve of the 
dorsal profile. The scales, like the jaw-teeth, as we 
mentioned above, almost completely disappear. No 
tongue or gill-rakers. The pyloric appendages are nu- 
merous, and are united into a mass like a bunch of 
grapes. The sclerotica of the eye contains two osseous 
lamina?, united by sutures, which in front (distally) 
leave a round opening for the cornea and behind an 
irregular hole for the optic nerve. The colouring of 
the body is a darker or lighter variation of the colours 
given above. In youth, like most Scombromorphi, the 
Swordfish is marked with dark transverse bands across 
the body. 
From the classical times the history of the Sword- 
fish has always been embellished with a thousand 
exaggerated tales of its fierceness and the hostility it 
entertains even towards objects which cannot serve as 
its food. It is really, however, of a peaceable disposi- 
tion, and even remarkable for its timidity, but one of 
the most rapid swimmers of all fishes, and quite capable, 
though this is not its habit, of dealing other crea- 
tures dangerous wounds with its powerful sword. It 
lias especially been accused as the bitterest enemy of 
the whale; but this may very easily be due to a con- 
fusion between the Swordfish and the Grampus ( Orca 
gladiator). With regard to the terete-snouted SavoitI- 
fishes it is an established fact that they have often 
darted at a vessel and pierced its side with their sword 
— in one case, even Avhere the ship was copper- 
bottomed, to a depth of 14 in. Of such an action on 
the part of the true Swordfish, however, Ave have only 
one authenticated instance, Avhich took place in Noiway, 
Avhere in August, 1839, it is said, a Swordfish 21 dcm. 
in length Avas caught at the mouth of a river far up 
Lerfjord in Helgeland, after having driven its SAVord 
into a boat". We can set no great Aveight on the 
account given by YarreliA of a Swordfish which killed 
a man bathing in the Severn, for the fish was probably 
rushing blindly forward in fright. From America we 
are told c that the SAvordfish, when struck with a har- 
poon, turns upon the boat Avhence it has received the 
blow; but Ave may easily understand that on such pro- 
vocation it is enraged to madness. Perhaps the real 
purpose of the sword is not yet fully known; but we 
must assume that it is connected with the procuring 
of food. Bennett has given a clue to the explanation 
of the attacks made upon vessels by the terete-snouted 
Swordfishes. With lightning speed they dart among 
shoals of Bonitos, Albicores and other Scombroids, 
spitting them on their swords, intending afterAvards to 
shake them off and devour them. When its victims 
seek shelter in the shadow of a ship, the Swordfish may 
° Still it is worth mentioning that not a single word of the blow dealt to the boat occurs in the letter to KR0YER, wherein Governor 
Christie describes the catch. See Danm. Fiske , vol. I, Tillaeg. p. 597. (Helgeland is a district of Finmark. Tr.). 
b Brit. Fish., ed. 2, vol. I, p. 165, after Daniell, Rural Sports , 1801. 
c Brown-Goode, Mater. Hist. Sword-Fish ., p. 45; Fish. Industr. U. S., part. I, p. 351, from Prof. Baird’s notes. 
