Swordfish
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Swordfish. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in astronomy, the constellation, Dorado. In ichthyology, a popular name for any individual of the Xiphinde. The They are pelagic agic fishes, widely distributed in tropical and sub- sub-tropical seas. Their popular name is derived from their formidable sword-like weapon, formed by the coalescence and prolongation of the maxillary and intermaxillary bones beyond the lower jaw; it is very hard and strong, and capable of inflicting terrible wounds. Swordfishes seem to have a mortal antipathy to whales and other large Cetacea, attacking them whenever occasion offers, and, so far as is known, always coming coming off victorious. In their fury swordfishes often attack boats and vessels, evi evidently mistaking them for cetaceans; and sometimes the sword has been driven through the bot- SWORDFISH tom of a ship, and broken off by the fish in vain struggles to withdraw it. Swordfishes are the largest of the Acanthopterygii; specimens of the genus Histiophorus (the sailorfish), from the Indian and Pacific oceans, reaching a length of from 12 to 15 feet, of which the sword than 3. The occupies rather more or Mediterranean swordfish common sometimes reaches a length of 10 feet, with a proportionately shorter sword; it is bluish-black above, merging into silver below. The flesh is of excellent flavor, and in recent years has become popular in the United States.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a fierce, active sea fish, ten to twenty feet long. Its upper jaw is prolonged into a long sword-like weapon which its owner employs in the destruction of larger fishes. A sword-fish does not hesitate to attack a whale. It has no difficulty in piercing the side of a rowboat and has been known to bury its sword in the timbers of a passing ship. The British museum has a piece of ship's timber containing the "sword" of one of these fishes. A section of a three-inch oak plank sheathed with copper, and having the sword of a swordfish sticking clear through it, is shown at Singapore. It is a bluish fish found in Atlantic waters. It is not without value as a food fish. The chase of the swordfish is a source of profit in the Mediterranean. New England fishermen take 1,500,000 pounds a year. The industry is worth $90,000 yearly.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts treat the whale-killing swordfish as fact; Aiton's 1910 entry says it "does not hesitate to attack a whale." Modern work finds no evidence of deliberate assaults on cetaceans: Xiphias gladius uses its bill to slash through schools of squid and fish, and strikes on boats are rare accidents, though the pierced timbers in museum cases are real enough. Taxonomy has also split what Collier's lumped together in 1921 — the true swordfish now stands alone in the family Xiphiidae, while the sailfish and marlins Collier's called Histiophorus form the separate Istiophoridae. Two things the old writers could not have guessed: the swordfish carries a specialised heater organ that warms its eyes and brain, described in 1982, and the fish Collier's praised for its "excellent flavor" now appears on US advisories against eating it in pregnancy because of methylmercury.
Written for this edition, 2026.