Swordfish: A Biography of the Ocean Gladiator
Swordfish are among the most highly sought game fish in all of the oceans. Since novelist Zane Grey wrote about his record-setting catches in the 1920s, reeling in one of these delicious but dangerous solitary giants has been considered an ultimate fishing experience. Because they fight fiercely and often escape, scientists labeled them Xiphias gladius, or gladiator fish. Easily identified by long, flat extensions of their upper jaws, swordfish have been harpooned since the age of the ancient Greeks, yet little is known about their spawning, feeding habits, growth, and migration, and no aquarium has ever held a live swordfish. Long thought inexhaustible, swordfish populations are now threatened by indiscriminate and often illegal industrial fishing and by global warming. In 12 authoritative yet sometimes conversational chapters, veteran marine biologist and artist Ellis recounts the natural history of a legend-worthy species. --Rick Roche