Broadbill Swordfish

Fact File:

Common Name(s):
Broadbill Swordfish

Scientific Name:
Xiphias gladius (Linnaeus, 1758)

Usual Size:
Believed to 445cm

UK Record Weights from rod/line:

Shore:

Boat:

MAFF Minimum Size: Shore: Boat:

Identification:
The upper and sides of the body dark brown fading to light brown under side. The only Billfish with a rigid dorsal fin.

Breeding:
Egg dispersal. Females may lay between 2/5 million eggs and the main breeding area for the Eastern Atlantic is the Mediterranean Sea. It is believed that a female is mature at the age of 5-6 and this equates to a length of between 150-170cm

Habitat:
A semi oceanic species which is located in the upper water layers and has an optimum temperature range of between 18/22ºC, but is known to tolerate a sea temperature of between 5/27ºC. They are known to go to depths of at least 550m

Food:
Tunas and other pelagic fishes when in open waters and when further inshore they will take Mackerel, Herring and Hake

Range:
For the Eastern Atlantic from the north of Scotland down to the Cape of Good Hope.

Additional Notes:
A truly powerful angling adversary, mostly found in oceanic waters off the western coasts

REFERENCES:

FAO Species Catalogue - Vol V - Billfishes of The World - Nakamura

Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean - Whitehead, Bauchot, Hureau, Nielsen, Tortonese

Key to the Fishes of Northern Europe - Wheeler


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