Squid Sucker-Marks On Swordfish

Clem

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A swordfish loin came into the shop last week with a very interesting set of marks stamped into the skin.



Unfortunately I do not know where the swordfish was caught, nor do I know its age, but those are clearly rows of squid sucker-marks, so clearly defined that individual teeth in the crowns can be counted. The robust teeth suggest something other than a giant, but a large squid nonetheless. Rather cool.

Clem

ps: Apologies for the fat image file, but I wanted my scanner to take a good and detailed pass.
 

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Thanks, Mike. I'd been hoping to find something like this. I've seen a few wounds left by cookie-cutter sharks, which look very different. (Personally, I think cookie-cutter sharks should be re-named ice cream-scoop sharks, but, alas.) Sucker-marks are much more pleasant to look at than burrowing parasitic worms. Gah.

Clem
 
Although they do add protein to your meal? (which will by definition be less than the amount originally consumed, so, #fail)
 
Interesting find indeed!

As an aside, it seems to me that the protein density of the parasitic worm is not automatically less than the tissue it resides in. The parasite has the advantage of partaking of blood supply (or tissue supplied by blood) for some time, and could thus build up a larger protein store. It suspect that, in practice, it will have somewhat less protein density than the fish's typical somatic muscle, but the proteins will be of a greater variety.

Not to my taste.

It's probably a very good thing that cookie-cutter sharks are small, and that they rarely encounter humans. They are wickedly efficient.

The image makes me wonder about healing time of swordfish skin/scale structures.
 
PS: That was obviously a joke :wink:

What most people fail to realise is that sleeper sharks employ similar feeding tactics to cookie cutters, and they grow to gigantic sizes :shock:
 
And then there are the worms that have expired and calcified within the swordfish's muscle. Not much protein but a good source of calcium. Bleh. The worms we do find are almost always lodged in the anaerobic muscle. It did occur to me to wonder if the sucker marks were old injuries that had enlarged as the fish grew, but I'd expect to see distortion of the circles if that were the case. The squid-marked sample showed something else of interest: the skin that had been latched-on to had separated from the tissue beneath it. Strong suckers.

Sleeper sharks are spooky.

Clem
 
Brings to mind these Dosidicus marks on a mako caught off the West coast of the US...

These are not around the head, as is normally the case as a result of the squid's last ditch efforts at avoiding predation...

humbolt-squid-wounds.jpg


But you don't have Humboldt, or was that Pacific swordfish, by any chance?

PS: Do note the wonderfull sharp boundaries between the dorsal dark blue, the lateral lighter blue and the silvery white ventral part :wink:
 
OB;176224 said:
PS: Do note the wonderfull sharp boundaries between the dorsal dark blue, the lateral lighter blue and the silvery white ventral part :wink:

Oh, shut up.

There are some pics out there of another mako with sucker marks on the head, but as I recall the culprit was an arrow squid, or at least that's what the post's author said. It's unlikely that we would get Pacific sword, but not impossible.

Clem
 
Level_Head, here's something you might be interested in.



This sword came into the shop last week. There aren't too many pelagic fish fast enough to run down a swordfish; swords have been known to spend time in the benthic zone, but this bite says "lamniform shark" to me, probably inflicted when both the sword and the shark were subadults.

Clem
 

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Thanks. You'd expect a matching set of marks on the other side. From what you've said, much healing time would have passed, not to mention size changes.

Of course, somewhere out there the shark's grown larger too (must resist song lyrics), and would perhaps be interested in a second bite at the apple. Or here, a second nip at the Xiphias.
 
Level_Head;176551 said:
Thanks. You'd expect a matching set of marks on the other side. From what you've said, much healing time would have passed, not to mention size changes.

I think this sword was snagged by a shark; only one jaw gained purchase. I saw something similar last year on a dead humpback that had been scavenged by a great white. The massive excisions of flesh were preceded by a crescent of punctures (lower jaw teeth). The bolts of blubber that were excised showed a pattern of punctures (lower jaw teeth) and slices (upper jaw teeth). The marks left on the pictured sword indicate teeth with blended cross-sections, both blade and cone.

Clem
 

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