Karen Marie Yurish, age 12, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, for her question:

Which is the biggest osteichthyes fish?

There is no doubt that the biggest of all fishes is the whopping whale shark. We cannot challenge his title merely because he is a cartilage fish of the class Chondrichthyes. None of the bony fishes of the class Osteichthyes are as big as the giant sharks, though some of them are whoppers. However, fish experts hesitate to award the title to this or that species.

All we can do is list a few reports of hugh bony type fishes, trusting the measurements of the fishermen who caught them. One was a whopping swordfish caught off Hawaii. This fellow was said to be 15 feet long and weighed 1,182 pounds. Another famous catch was a bluefin tuna, 14 feet long and weighing 1800 pounds. A 141 footlong Marlin weighing 1560 pounds was caught off Peru. But the most reliable record seems to go to an Atlantic marlin caught off the Grand Banks. This whopper measured 18' feet and weighed more than a ton    or so the fishy tale was reported.