256 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
Its appearance is very remarkable on account of its long, compressed 
form and its glistening, silvery color. The name “ Scabbard-fish,” which 
has been given to an allied species in Europe, would be very proper also 
for this species, for in general shape and appearance it looks very like the 
metallic scabbard of the sword. It attains the length of four or five feet, 
though ordinarily not exceeding twenty-five or thirty inches. This species 
is found in the tropical Atlantic, on the coast of Brazil, in the Gulf of 
California, the West Indies, the Gulf of Mexico, and north to Wood’s 
Holl, Mass., where, during the past ten years, specimens have occasionally 
been taken. In 1845 one was found at Wellfleet, Mass.; and in the Essex 
Institute is a specimen which is said to have been found in Salem Harbor. 
The species occurs also on the coast of Europe, two specimens having been 
found on the shores of the Moray Frith many years ago, and during the 
past decade it has become somewhat abundant in Southern England. It 
does not, however, enter the Mediterranean. Some writers believed the 
allied species, Trichiurus haumela , found in the Indian Ocean and Archi¬ 
pelago and in various parts of the Pacific, to be specifically the same. 
The Cutlass-fish is abundant in the St. John’s River, Fla., in the Indian 
River region, and in the Gulf of Mexico. Several instances were related 
to me in which these fish had thrown themselves from the water into row¬ 
boats, a feat which might be very easily performed by a lithe, active 
species like the Trichiurus. A small one fell into a boat crossing the 
mouth of the Arlington Paver, where the water is nearly fresh. 
Many individuals of the same species are taken every year at the mouth 
of the St. John’s River, at Mayport. Stearns states that they are caught 
in the deep waters of the bays about Pensacola, swimming nearly at the 
surface, but chiefly with hooks and lines from the wharves. He has known 
them to strike at the oars of the boat and at the end of the ropes that 
trailed in the water. At Pensacola they reach a length of twenty to thirty 
inches, and are considered good food-fish. Richard Hill states that in 
Jamaica this species is much esteemed, and is fished for assiduously in a 
“hole,” as it is called, that is, a deep portion of the waters off Fort 
Augusta. This is the best fishing place for the Cutlass-fish, Trichiurus. 
The fishing takes place before day; all lines are pulled in as fast as they 
are thrown out, with the certainty that the Cutlass has been hooked. As 
many as ninety boats have been counted on this fishing ground at day¬ 
break during the season. 
