ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
85 
Nnit fnrk 2nnlngiral Hmnetg 
OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY 
<3 A PUBLIC ZOOLOGICAL TARK. «J A PUBLIC AQUA¬ 
RIUM. I® THE PRESERVATION OF OUR NATIVE 
ANIMALS. tjTHE PROMOTION OF ZOOLOGY. 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
Published bi-monthly ;il the Ollice of the Society, 
III Broadway. New York City. 
Copy, Mr Cents Yearly, 91-50 
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS 
Sl'BSCRIFTION AND EdITOBIAI, OFFICES 
ZOOLOGICAL PARK, NEW YORK CITY 
Elwin R. Sanborn, Editor 
Copyright. 1013. ny the Xeiv York Zoological Society. 
0riiartnifittH: 
Mammals Aquarium 
William T. Hornaday Charles H. Townsend 
Birds Reptiles 
Lee S. Crandall. Raymond L. Ditmars. 
William Beebe. Honorary Curator. Birds 
Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy and 
the proof reading of his contribution. 
Vol. XXVI July, 1923 No. 4 
SWORDFISH TAKEN ON TRAWL LINES 
By C. H. Townsend 
In the issue of Science for July 7, 1922, the 
writer reported the taking of thirteen large 
swordfishes late in the month of December, 
1921, on trawl lines set for tilefish in deep water 
about 110 miles southeast of New York. Four 
vessels participated in the captures and the 
trawls were set in depths varying from 95 to 
125 fathoms. 
It is interesting to note that another swordfish 
was obtained under similar circumstances in 
December, 1922. Captain Ben Olsen of the 
schooner Columbia, one of the vessels which 
took swordfishes on trawl lines the year before, 
makes the following statement: 
V Idle fishing for tilefish about eighty miles 
south by east from Block Island, a swordfish 
was found on the trawl line when hauled to the 
surface. It was entangled in the trawl ap¬ 
parently in the effort to obtain some of the tile¬ 
fish winch had been hooked. The line had been 
set at a depth of eighty fathoms and the 
presence of the large fish w T as first felt at a 
depth of about twenty-five fathoms while it was 
being lifted. The swordfish was alive when 
brought to the surface. The trawl line was 
looped around the sw r ord close to the head and 
several times around the body. This swordfish 
weighed 410 pounds and was sold to a fish 
dealer at Block Island.” 
These captures of swordfishes are interesting 
as showing their presence in the latitude of 
New York in xvinter, their abundance in summer 
when they arc pursuing the schools of menhaden 
and mackerel having always been well known. 
Their capture on trawl lines is not new, as 
they have been taken a few times in this manner 
on the northern cod and halibut fishing grounds. 
The swordfish is not known to spawn anywhere 
along our coast and specimens weighing less 
than twenty-five pounds are not taken there. 
It spawns in the Mediterranean in summer 
at the very season when most common in our 
waters. Fishermen do not see it on the surface 
in winter, although we now have some reliable 
records of winter catches on trawl lines set in 
deep water. Its movements therefore remain 
for the most part unknown. 
We are indebted to Mr. Henry D. Whiton 
of New York for reporting all the above men¬ 
tioned captures of swordfishes on trawl lines, 
the information coming to him through Mr. 
Haraldson, the master of his yacht. 
MEMBERSHIP OF THE SOCIETY 
The following persons were elected members of the 
Society, May 10 and June 13, 1923, by the Executive 
Committee. 
May 10, 1923. 
Life 
Charles H. Jones 
Mrs. Don A. Baxter 
Mrs. Fordham Morris 
Orlando F. Weber 
Miss Clara Altscliul 
A nnual 
Mr. John Insley Coddington 
Samuel B. Potter 
Mrs. Alfred Wagstaff 
W. Steward Webb, Jr. 
June 13, 1923. 
Miss Emma W. Calkins 
Dr. Max Einhorn 
C. Frederick Frothingham 
George W. Naumburg 
Charles C. Sutter 
William Katz 
WaUer Woolson Brown 
Philip J. Mosenthal 
Mrs. Clare Florence Myers 
W. M. Wadsworth 
W. P. Pickhardt 
Frederick K. Vreeland 
Albert Moyer 
Dr. Walter J. Otis 
Charles Bucl 
Mrs. Gardner Cornett 
H. M. Webster 
Hermann C. Schwab 
Arthur A. Binswanger 
Daniel Cranford Smith 
H. F. Fie’d 
Mrs. Louisa Van Wezel 
Joseph P. Hennessy 
Waters S. Davis 
Dr. Walter J. Wellington 
F. K. Barbour 
Char’es U. Caesar 
James L. Clark 
Miss Ethel Zabriskie 
Rowley 
