Swordfish

The swordfish is a large, muscular billfish, dark bronze to blackish above and paler below, with a long, flattened sword-like upper bill it uses to slash through schools of prey. Unlike marlin it lacks pelvic fins and scales as an adult, and its enormous eyes and specialised warm-blooded tissue let it hunt in cold, dark water far below the surface.

Off South Africa it is a deep-water, offshore fish, spending the day at depth and rising toward the surface at night to feed on squid and pelagic fish. It is a target of the pelagic longline and sport fisheries rather than divers, who almost never encounter one. A formidable, fast animal, it is best known to spearos and anglers by reputation as one of the ocean's great blue-water gamefish.