Swordfish

 Swordfish - the only modern representative of this family unit okuneobraznyh. Swordfish - one of the fastest fish. One has a top speed lo 130 km / h Flattened and the upper jaw forms a pointed sword, whose length is 1/3 the length of the body. But she had a fish grows to 4.5 m in length and weighs about 400 kg (record - 547kg). On the tail fin of her big crescent-shaped, and the body is bare, it does not have scales.

 Sword-fish, with its delicious meat, is a very important object of oceanic fisheries. Swordfish, like tuna, sea bass, scampi, lobster, turbot and John Dory, cod-liver belongs to the noble class, so to speak. In Italy it is loved and appreciated. After all, swordfish is not only a thin, delicate, noble taste, it has almost no bones, only the central ridge. To feel all the shades of her natural taste, swordfish are often eaten raw. For example, in the form of carpaccio - the finest pink slices of fish laid on the leaves of fresh lettuce, can be supplemented by a light sauce of lemon, tender fish and lemon juice acid will create a good contrast combination. And, of course, olive oil - without it anywhere. Tartare of swordfish - it's the same idea, but another incarnation.
 Swordfish is quite expensive, so housewives often buy instead the cheaper polombo shark of the family. On the palate, they are really close, but no taste, no flavor polombo do not have the generosity that is at swordfish. For the chefs are always better when the fish is more, it is much easier cutting. The optimal size for swordfish - from thirty kilograms or more. Fish less is better not even to buy - it has not gained a taste, not ripe. Swordfish, like branzino and dorado, with age it becomes more tasty. The main sign of freshness - the color of the meat, it should be pink.If it is white - so stale fish. Sword Fish goes well with fresh salads, especially with arugula, as well as baked and boiled potatoes with a sauce based on olive oil and lemon juice, tomatoes, eggplant. Of the spices and herbs - tarragon, oregano, onion Sibul, but they must be fresh. You can use oregano, little ginger and hot peppers, dushevik, dill and parsley. With mushrooms and broccoli, as well as with strong spices and herbs - mint, basil, curry, rosemary, thyme - swordfish is not friendly.

Swordfish - a lone warriorLive swordfish in the open ocean in the tropical and subtropical zones, but in the summer sometimes gets to the Barents Sea. This is a single traveler, outside the breeding season is not interested in my tribe. Swordfish make these long voyages. In calm weather they approach the surface of the water and swim, putting on her dorsal fin and the caudal part. Sometimes they increase the speed and jump out of the water to immediately fall back to the noise.
 Swordfish is not only fast but also alacrity, and attacking the school of fish turns into a formidable hunter. It pierces its victim, violently beating them to stun, and then swallows.
 Swordfish are well aware of where in the ocean there are large concentrations of various fish, and rush back to the hunt. There you can see several dozen predators, but here they do not form flocks: each behaves independently, without combining with its neighbors. Sword for them - not decoration, but a necessary thing: they have no teeth, and without them the sword on the hunt is necessary. Lashed out at a school of fish, causing them to predator swords fierce blows, and then eat crippled or killed prey. Cope swordfish with squid, tuna, sharks.
 In swordfish nasty habit of attacking boats, boats and even larger vessels. Why this aggression, the researchers do not yet know. At a speed of 100 km / h it beats the sword is 15 times stronger than the bear with a sledgehammer. The case when the sword pierced the ship copper plating thickness of 2.5 cm thick oak planks 37 cm, leaving the other side. Fish itself does not suffer from the impact: at the base of the sword are cellular cavities filled with fat and softening by a terrible blow. However, to pull the sword stuck in the bottom plank of the vessel, the fish is usually not possible, and she dies.
 In the XIX century, the British Lloyd's insurance agency even paid the owners of a ship a few thousand pounds for the damage caused by ship sheathing the sword-fish.
 Swimmers and divers - not only victims of misanthropy swordfish. There are cases of attacks of this fish on the boat, and boats. Fragments of swords were recovered even shells of large vessels. The reasons for these attacks is still not clear: whether the fish bump into them at high speed, or make crafts for the sharks, or go crazy. But for serious amounts of fish attacking (and the largest swordfish reach 4-4.5 m in length and weighs half a ton, and the record copy even weighed 650 kg), such an attack is a serious threat to shipping.