The swordfish (or broadbill) is famous for its strange shape, terrific speed, and amazing method of feeding. when fully grown, it may be fifteen feet long and weigh more than 1,000 pounds.
A swordfish is built somewhat like a chunky. old-fashioned submarine The oddest thing about this fish is its flat “sward”. This sward is actually a specially braced extension of the upper jaw. It may be three feet long and four or five inches wide at the base. Its owner uses it mostly to kill other fish to eat. It will charge like an express train into mackerel, herring, or other kinds of fish that travel in large crowds or schools. As soon as the swordfish gets among them, it slashes its sward wildly in all directions to chop them up. Soon there are plenty of raw fish chunks in the water for the swordfish to swallow.
Adult swordfish have no scales, and they are also toothless. Usually the color of their smooth skis is a mixture of bronze and silver. Sometimes it is blackish above and almost white below. The round, bright blue eyes are nearly four inches wide.
The eggs of this fish are almost too small to see, and they hatch in two or three days. When a baby swordfish is a week old, it is only an eighth of an inch long, and both are very shot. In the next few months this odd little character will change into a four-foot copy of its gigantic parents.