The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-02-13
The Sword Fish.,.An ocean Puzzle


| I'm the mysteries of nature the sea has
| A conspicuous share, and the study OF
ocean life is full Of fascination. full OF
curious discoveries, and not lacking IN
facts which are entirely outside tho
range of explanation. This, perhaps,
| is to be expected, considering that the
ocean is the exact reverse Of the land.
On land nearly all OF life is upon the
surface, readily visible and always
omen to study. On the contrary, near
" all of ocean life is low and out OF
sight, and even those who spend their
lives upon its storm swept surface can
have but guess work knowledge OF
what is going on below them.
But all the study of the sea ways is
not mere speculation or useless gather
| ing of scattered facts, 1t comes to
something. In the study of the ways
of fish and the art of breeding fish from
the spawn science has furnished a
practical aid to mankind which is only
beginning now to be appreciated. We
are learning to repair damages of even
the most wasteful and ignorant de-
structiyeness, which would otherwise
soon deprive us of some of our most de-
sired foods. HHHI u. ....
The first aim of the students is, of
course, to learn the habits of any par
ticular fish, and some of these are very
peculiar. For example take the sword
fish. 1t has lately been made the sub
ject of very careful study, and good
deal of positive fact has been learned
about it. As to its origin, the only
really young swordfsh ever seen are
found in the Mediterranean. The only
large swordtish ever found spawning, or
containing eggs, are found in the Med
iterranean. There is evidently their
home and nursery. But every year,
about the first of July, the swordtish
appears on the American coast, being
first seen about twenty-five miles south
Of Montauk point He makes his way
in shore and stays along the coast until
fall He lives upon menhaden, mack
eral, bluefish, and other similar fish,
but how he learns in the Mediterranean
that he can find such food over here,
and how he learns the way here, and
what transatlantic route he takes, are
utterly unknown. He sticks by wa
ter temperature of 30 degrees. When
the water is colder than that he goes
away, nor does he come until it rises TO
that. And yet fishermen catch the
swordfsh, by no means infrequently,
on their halibut travis, which are down
a hundred fathoms or more where the
temperature is not above 40 degrees.
Here is another puzzle, how a fish that
leaves when the water gets below so
degrees is caught in temperature be-
low 40 degrees. But there is another
curious fact to be mentioned: the
swordfsh appear on our coast about
the first of July and stay until fall.
Now that is exactly the spawning time
of the swordtish in the Mediterranean,
which is the only place where such fish
are known to spawn. The whole in
crease Of the breed must be made up
without the assistance of those that
come over here, or else the same indi-
vidual fish may not breed every year.
Perhaps, unlike Connecticut, they have
a constitution which requires only BIZ
ennial session for business, and those
that have the year off come over to our
American watering places.
Old fishermen say the supply shows
no signs of increase or decrease. In
any still morning about eleven, or af-
ternoon about four, the swordfish in
the season can surely be found,
| lying at the surface of the ocean
with its back fin above the water line.
The fish move in what is called a
school, but they keep apart and have
to be harpooned singly. Such q meth
cd of capture prevents wholesale, work
and probably the supply will always
continue, especially as the demand for
the meat is not very great, though
some people think it superior to the
halibut, being firmer and not SO fishy.
The swordfish, has been caught weigh.
ing as much as 100 pounds, but the av'
erage is 240 to 500 The United States
Fish Commissioners report, which con
tains much interesting information
| about this and other fish, has an est
mate that. the annual catch along our
| New England coast is about 1000 fish OF
about 1.00O, 900 pounds altogether. AT
wholesale they bring at first hands
about three cents pound.
! They are fierce fighters and hungry
eaters and it is believed some Of their
attacks on ships are made out of simple
ferocity-a natural antagonism to ev-
erything. Many vessels have been
crippled and more than one sunk by
being pierced with their swords. =
Hartford Courant.