swordfish Xiphias gladius, a fish which ranges right round the world. Most of its common names refer to its ‘sword’. This is not for driving holes through the bottoms of wooden boats (although there are many tales of this happening), but to be flailed around among banks of smaller fish, which are thus killed or stunned. Maximum length (including the sword) is 4 m (13').
Although so large, and so formidably equipped, the swordfish often lazes on the surface of the water and can be harpooned. In classical times, as now, this was a common method of capture. Swordfish are also taken in tuna traps.
