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CATCHING IMMENSE SPEARFISH A New York correspondent in the Sun writes that a 314 pound Murlin swordfish captured by James W Jump was placed in the list of the seasons prize winners at Avalon Cal as breaking the worlds record It may be that the record was broken so far as light tackle is concerned breaking at eighteen pounds poundsI I have received a photograph of Commodore Jumps catch It is not a swordfish at all but a Japanese spearfisli or Pacific spearfish with the prominent characteristic of transverse stripes It further dif ¬ fers from tlie swordfish in having a roundish instead of u flat sword and rudimentary scales of which the swordfish is destitute destituteThe The matter is further established by the follow ¬ ing statement in Copcia tlie official magazine of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Her petaiogists petaiogistsT T S Manning of Avalon Cal tlie secretary of the Tuna Club furnishes some interesting notes Tvo hundred and fiftyone specimens of the Japa ¬ nese spearfish Tetrapturns mitzukurii have been taken at Avalon in the last seven years Their average weight is 182 pounds the largest in 191 weighed 340 pounds and measured 10 feet and 10 inches inchesMr Mr Manning has a photograph of one taken in Hawaii said to have weighed 730 pounds Thus far no sptarfish has been recorded from Hawaii and this weight seems gigantic The largest swordfish taken at Avalon weighed 377 pounds and was 11 feet 11 inches long longMr Mr Manning sends specimens of a fish caught in great schools at San Clcinentc and never noticed by any one in that region before It is the short nosed saury Colobis brevirostris of which hitherto less than a dozen specimens have been known knownDAVID DAVID STARR JORDAN Sanford University California CaliforniaThe The spearfish and swordfish have identical habits so far as ramming boats is concerned All comers look alike to them Goode mentions recorded weights for the latter ranging from 800 to 1500 pounds It is evidently the young Japanese spear ¬ fish which go rubbernecking fur from tlie tropical home waters
