ARCHIVES, FISHERIES AND MARINE SERVICE • Translation Series No. 3556 Studies on the life history of the swordfish, Xiphias gladius Linnaeus by Hiroshi Yabe, Shoji Ueyanagi, Shoji Kikawa, and Hisaya Watanabe Original title: Mekaj-ki (Xiphias gladius L.) no Seikatsushi no Kenkyu From: Nankai-Ku Suisan Kenkyusho Hokoku (10): 106-151, 1959 Translated by the Translation Bureau(cEp) Multilingual Services Division Department of the Secre..ary of State of Canada Department of the Environment Fisheries and Marine Service Biological Station St. Andrews, N.B. 1975 • . 103 pages typescript ee THE SECRETARY OF STATE SECRÉTARIAT D'ÉTAT DEPARTMENT OF RI% ine, TRANSLATION BUREAU BUREAU DES TRADUCTIONS MULTILINGUAL SERVICES 1,e DIVISION DES SERVICES CANADA DIVISION MULTILINGUES TRANSLATED FROM — TRADUCTION DE INTO - EN Japanese EngliSh AuTHOR..-: AUT -E-L7R Hiroshi Iabe, shoji.Ueyanagi, Shoji Kikawa, and Hisaya Watanabe TITLE IN ENGLISH — TITRE ANGLAIS studies on the life history of the swordfish, Xiphias gladius LINNAEUS TITLE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE (TRANSLITERATE FOREIGN CHARACTERS) TITRE EN LANGUE ÉTRANGÉRE (TRANSCRIRE EN CARACTÈRES ROMAINS) Mekajiki (Xiphias gladius L.) no Seikatsushi no Kenkyu REFERENCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE (NAME OF BOOK OR PUBLICATION) IN FULL. TRANSLITERATE FOREIGN CHARACTERS, RÉFÉRENCE EN LANGUE ÉTRAN.:2RE (NOM DU LIVRE OU PUBLICATION), AU COMPLET, TRANSCRIRE EN CARACTÈRES ROMAINS. Nankaiku Suisan Kenkyusho Hokoku,Dai 10-go Betsusatsu, TERENCE IN ENGLISH — RÉFÉRENCE EN ANGLAIS • Report of Nankai Regional Fisheries Research Laboratory no. 10,1959. PUBLISHER— ÉDITEUR PAGE NUMBERS IN ORIGINAL DATE OF PUBLICATION NUMeROS DES PAGES DANS The Nankai Eegional fl.sheries Researc DATE DE PUBLICATION L'ORIGINAL Laboratory, Japan. 45 (1 06- 15 1) YEAR ISSUE NO. VOLUME PLACE OF PUBLICATION ANNeE NUMÉRO NUMBER OF TYPED PAGES LIEU DE PUBLICATION NOMBRE DE PAGES DACTYLOGRAPHIÉES sanbashidori, Kochi, Japan. • 959 10 103 REQUESTING DEPARTMENT Environment TRANSLATION BUREAU NO. 1101016 MINISTRE-CLIENT NOTRE DOSSIER NCI BRANCH OR DIVISION Fisheries Service TRANSLATOR (INITIA LS) DIRECTION OU DIVISION TRADUCTEUR (INITIALES) C -ET PERSON REQUESTING Allan T. Reid DEMANDÉ PAR OCT - 7 1975 YOUR NUMBER VOTRE DOSSIER N° IMEDITED TRA!'1:11.à..TiO 4 DATE OF REQUEST 10-37-75 For DATE DE LA DEMANDE intorma;fon only TRADUCTION NON REVLSEE Infonnalion sQuiernent sos.200.10.6 (REV. 2/88) 7030-21-02Q-5333 -2) ) DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE SECRÉTARIAT D'ÉTAT TRANSLATION BUREAU eMa- BUREAU DES TRADUCTIONS MULTILINGUAL SERVICES DIVISION DES SERVICES • DIVISION CANADA • MULTILINGUES CITY CLIENTS NO. DEPARTMENT DIVISION/BRANCH VILLE N° DU CLIENT MINISTÉRE DIVISION/DIRECTION Environment Fisheries Service •OttL.. wa l Ont. BUREAU NO. LANGUAGE TRANSLATOR (INITIALS) N° DU BUREAU LANGUE TRADUCTEUR (INITIALES) OCT - 7 1975 1101016 Japanese CEP " STUDIES ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE SWORDFISH, X1PHIAS GLADIUS LINNAEUS" * by Hiroshi Yabe, Shoji Ueyanagi, Shoji Kikawa, and Hisaya Watanabe. (The Nankai Regional Yisheries Research Lab.) CONTENTS Introduction • 1 I Outline of fishing grounds for swordfish in the Northern Pacific ucean.. 2 II Matured eggs and larval stage 4 a. Eggs of mature ovaries b. Materials of larval swordfish c. Morphology d. Season of appearance e. Swimming depth f. Foot:. habits III Morphology of young swordfish 23 IV Morphological change with growth 36 1110 a. Morphology of the head part b. Morphology of the fins c. Colour, spots, lateral line and scales d. Viscera ' Spawning 53 • a. Situations of sample collecting from spawning area b. Egg-diameter distribution of mature ovary eggs c. Relationship between body length and ovary weight d. Distribution of matured and young swordfish e. Spawning season VI Growth 61+ a. Growth of young swordfish b. Growth curve VII Food habits 72 VIII Summary 74 IX References 76 X Appendix 98 * Nankaiku Suisan Kenkyusho Gyoseki- No. 129 (The Records of the Project Activities, the Southern Fisheries Research. Laboratory, the 129th issue) IJNEDITL'D reIANSLATION For inform:Ilion only TRADUCTION NON REVISEE Information seulement 505-200-I 0-31 • 1 a» INTRODUCTION 108 Many studies on the life-history of the swordfish have been reported. Some of them were reported quite a long time ago. Recently, Arata (1954) 1) reported on details of the external morphology of the larval swordfish, particularly, in the early growth period as well as the morphological changes that occurred with the growth of the fish inhabiting the Atlantic Ocean. Taning (1955) 21) reported.asummary, from existing literature, covering the season for spawning, distribution of the larval swordfish, environment for growth, food-habits, etc with regard to swordfish inhabiting the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans; in addition he reported information on sample materials collected by the boat 'Dona' and others. The authors 14) 3) in 1951 reported the morphology and life of larval and very young swordfishes grown in the area of the Western Pacific Ocean which is located relatively close to Japan. Since then, a great amount of information concerning the overall life-history from larval stage to adult swordfish inhabiting the wide region of the South-Western Pacific Ocean has been accumulated, while the Japanese fishery projects on tuna has also progressed. As a result, the fishing area has been gradually enlarged. Therefore, this paper relates this information by putting together the biologic — facts in order to contribute to the elucidation of resources supplement mechanisms. 2 Materials used for this study were provided by the Ministry of Fisheries, Provincial Fishery Research Stations, Fishery High Schools, and many fishing boats; the results of Resources Investigations which were carried out several times by the Southern Regional Fishery Research Station during the period of 1947-1958 were also available. The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to the following persons: Dr. Hirusato Nakamura, Director of the Southern Regional Fishery Research Station, for his kind instruction; the crew 4D1 the Toshitaka-Maru, the research ship, for their efforts in collecting materials; the Colleagues at the Division of Far-Ocean Resources at the Southern Regional Fishery Research Station for their • useful advice during discussions; and Mr. Sukeo Takahashi, the captain of the 12th Taiyo-maru fishing boat for his kind donation of many valuable source materials during our long investigation period. Many thanks are also due to Mr. Hideo Kamida, a student of the Department of Fishery Science at Tokyo University, for his work in measuring the size of samples, and to Mrs. Sumiko Nakazawa and Natsuko Yamazaki at our Fishery Research Station for their skills in the arranging of materials and the drawing of figures. I. Outline of fishing grounds for swordfish in the Northern Pacific Ocean. Swordfish may be distributed from temperate to tropical zones all over the world. However, the fishing grounds presently • established are located only in the temperate zone. 3 •• • The region of the Northern Pacific Ocean includes the areas of the coast of the Japan Sea from Sanriku-Oki to the Izu-Retto area), the coast of Cheju Island (Korea); and the coast of California. In terms of number of ships used and the amount of fish caught, the largest fishing ground 109 would be the one located on the coast of the Japan Sea in the Northern Pacific Ocean. However, ships fishing for 0 swordfish have sailed in the eastern region to 160 E . 1954, and have found that the seasonal southward movement of swordfish thereby the area of 160o - 180 0E.has been developed as a fishing ground in the region of the Central Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, the fishirig boats for swordfish have not • been employed in the Eastern region of the Pacific Ocean; this area may not be considered as good a fishing ground for swordfish, although tuna fishing is ordinarily performed in this area and the catch is often mixed with white marlin and short-nosed spearfish. A type of fishing to enhance fishing efficiency on the basis of the habitual behavior of the swordfish. This was called "Night String". Every boat fishing for swordfish employs this procedure. The main feature of this method is to cast the line at night keeping the hook in the upper layer of the waters using octopods as bait whereas • the long line for tuna fishing is usually not cast at night. MM. 4 • The area designated as the fishing ground for swordfish in the region of the Northern Pacific Ocean is shown in Fig. 1. The fishing ground opens in August at the Eastern Coast of Hokkaido near 45 0N.and closes in March at the east side of the Izu-retto (Islands) near 28 °N. In general, the fishing ground was not extended southward beyond the zone described above and it was eventually diminished after April. This may mean that the entire fishing ground would be in the waters between the Polar Front and the Subtropical Convergence. It is also predicted that a seasonal northward movement of the fishing ground may exist to a similar extent to that of the seasonal ' southward movement, vet this is not confirmed. The rod-shaped fishing ground, formed in the area of the Sanriku Coast during the period of June to August, could be an indication of north- ward movement of the fishing ground. Thus, it is very important to resolve the mechanism of resources supply and to study the actual state of the northward movement of the fishing ground with regard to young swordfish which are distributed in the southern waters down to the Subtropical Convergence. Matured eggs and larval stage a. Eggs of mature ovardes. Mature swordfish eggs are ovarian eggs of the fluid state so-called "mizuko" in Japanese which are completely separated from the surface laver of the oophorium. A part of the "mizuko" was collected and soaked in sea water cp r a while, and then fixed with 10% formalin solution. This specimen was obtained from the swordfish, its size was 170 cm 5 in length, caught at these bearings: 220-31'SJ 174°- ** 24' W.in June 1954.