Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) is a saltwater species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of 0–550 m. The main season in the United States runs spring, autumn, winter.
Scientific name: Xiphias gladius · Water: Saltwater · Season: Spring, Autumn, Winter
Size: up to 455 cm
The swordfish (Xiphias gladius) is the sole member of the family Xiphiidae, an elongated, round-bodied billfish whose long, flat, sword-like bill and loss of all teeth and scales in adulthood separate it from the marlins and sailfish. It is a highly migratory predator of tropical and temperate Atlantic, Pacific and Indian waters, usually found from the surface to about 550 m and exceptionally far deeper, and it is one of the most popular sport fish of the billfish category, with the IGFA all-tackle record a 536 kg fish taken off Chile in 1953. In the United States the recreational fishery is concentrated in the Florida Straits and the Gulf of Mexico — where boat anglers deep-drop squid or mackerel on electric reels and heavy sinkers during the day — as well as off southern California, and the fish is also known as the broadbill in some countries. No specific US fishing season is documented in the sources used here.
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