Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-05
SAWFISH AND SWORDFlSH
Two Entirely Different Creatures and the
characteristics of Each.
Two Sea Monsters That Are Commonly
COMPOUNDED With Each Other
SwOrdhsh a Gigantic Mackerel.
From the London Leader.

Owing, L suppose, to the plentiful supply
of those peculiar weapons which protrude
from the upper jaw of certain species of
shark the pristiophoridae), and possibly
also to a certain similarity of sound be-
tween sword and saw, multitudes of peo-
pie continually confound two sea monsters
with each other. Between the sawfish and
the swordfsh the only points of similarity
that exist are that both are fish and both
bear a weapon on their heads. Beyond
these common features the two creatures
are essentially unlike. And 1 have often
been amused by people pointing out with
an air of pride a huge sword as they
have called it, suspended in some con-
spicuous place on tn, ir walls. and by their
informing me with air of wisdom that
this is the weapon with which ships bot
toms are often pierced and thereby many
lives are lost
These saws are very plentiful in East
India ports, where they form one of the
regular stock articles of the curio dealers
so plentiful, in fact, that for rupee
very fine specimen may be purchased.
They consist of a broad blade of cartilage
tof which the whole skeleton of a shark is
composed), and are studded on both edges
with short. sharp teeth at regular inter-
walls. The end of the weapon, however, is
thickened. being far more like a snout
than a point, and is withal so soft that the
most cursory glance should convince any
body that thrUSting implement it must
be worse than useless.
AS a matter of fact, the shark to which
it belongs uses it in quite different fash
ion. From the fact of his teeth being very
snail, although exceedingly numerous, he
is compelled to feed upon soft matter, and
he therefore supplies his need by the dis
agreeable practice of dis mboweiing other
fish, and feeding upon the entrails. This
he does by gliding beneath them and draw
ing his saw across their bellies in work
rnanlise fashion, after which he is able to
proceed with his meal and leave the rest
of the body to the other sea scavengers
that sure to be in the vicinity.
The swordfsh. on the other hand, is
really gigantic mackerel. dividing pretty
evenly the honor of being chief of the
Scombridae with the huge albacore or deep
sea funny. Its weapon is a solid spear of
bone. sometimes reaching two feet in
length, an elongation of the upper jaw
which tapers to a keen point. These
weapons are an exceedingly rare posses
sion, very seldom seen except in museums.
and then generally found on exhibition just
as they have been sawed out of some
ships timbers, the result of just such all
error of judgment on the part of the
xiphias as was reported last week from
kragero, into which port the bark Passe
Partout had put in leaking. Upon exam
ination part of the weapon of a swOrdfish
was found imbedded in a fve-inch plank,
having first Sassed through the outer
sheathing Of metal.
In the Natural History Museum at South
kensington may also be seen one of these
bony javelips transfixing an oaken beam
more than six inches in thickness, giving
those who see ii a very fair idea of the
truly tremendous force with which the
blow was delivered.
Now. it Gas never been my lot to be at
tackled by a swordfish, | am happy to say,
though l have witnessed several examples
of their prowess. But on one never-to-be-
forgotten occasion | saw a swordfish come
s1gnaly to grief through making the mis-
q a a -it1gr hot
deep, sperm whale The big mackerel
had Joined himself unto pair of KILLERS"
Orca gladiator, the trio being indeed a for
mldable syndicate for attack. 1t fell to
the xiphias to lead off, and he did so by
launching himself, like a torpedo straight
Tor the whales most vulnerable part Just
abaft the nectoral fin. But the cachaIot
IKE wary old warrior, just swerved the
least bit in the world, meeting the blow
upon the most impenetrable mass of his
head 1t took effect just before the whales
eye, ripping white streak diagonaEy ur-
ward but spending its force in the air
above, while the great 1.-the body of the
Siphias glided helplessly over the whales
head. AS 1t fell the whale gave a sideway
writhe, catching his hapIess assailant be-
tween his vast jaws and shearing that nm
wise creature into two portions Sundry
snSht movements followed on the part of
the whale the result of which was the dis
appearance of what had so recently been a
terrible sea monster down the cayernous
throat of his intended victim
On another occasion we witnessed the
rush OF xiphias past the sheltering bulk
OF COW humpback and the simultaneous
disappearance of her calf, impaled upon the
iethdl sword The great mackereI sped on
ike a long shadow, leaving the bereaved
mother frantically searching for the younp-
ling which she would never see again. The
rush OF a swordfSh is a thing to see once
ana never forget. 1t hurls itself into the
MIDST OF school of fish, each individual of
Whlch nearly approaches the enemy in size
and often in that fearful rush will split
asunder two or even three of its frightened
victims.
1t appears to slay from sheer lust of
slaughter, for it is quite impossible that a
flsh of this size (the largest example ever
seen was not fifteen feet long. and of onite
slender girth) could ever eat a 1.-THE of the
ilsh he destroys. No other fish seems To he
endowed with such relentless ferocity al
lhough all hSh prey upon one another maxi
ing the deep, wide sea one vast battlefield
Where warfare knows no truce from age to
age Inc Killers mentioned above are unite
as savage, but they are not fish: thew are
Whales, Warm-blooded mammals who are
the terror of their own congeners
Ihe swordfSh has some small imitators
IN the garfish of our own coasts and the
blllnsh of the tropics These however. are
or two different species, the former more
nearly approaching his giant prototype,
having an elongated upper jaw, which he
doubtless uses for the same deadly purnose
among much smaller fish. The british
somewhat resembles mulIet and has the
lower Jaw elongated instead of the upper
Ihey are harmless little fish ayera cling
pound in weight when full grown and I
have caught them in many tropical ports