Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-07-18
A CHAPTER UPON cUrrLE-FIsH.

A correspondent Of the New York Scientif.
American, furnishes to that paper the follow
| ing interesting account Of the character and
habits of the squid or seuttle-fsh-a curious
| lnhabitant OF the ocean waters-which, We
think, will prove interesting 10 our readers
THE whale feeds entirely on the squid or
| scuttle-6sb, as believe they areI sometimes
called. The squid, think, lives by suction
II has no bones in its body, strictly so called
II has a kind of bill, short and thick in form
something like horn or turtle she'll in texture
and color. 1t has two thin pieces Of skin on
each side, one at each end, or nearly So aud
when small can fy short distance, on the
same principle as the flying fish or squirrel,
by impetus, always rising against the wind.
Ii has long arms or fbres that extend forward
from the fore part Of the body, with which it
embraces and holds whatever is intended as
food. They grow to q very large size, and 50
strong as to drown man by embracing him
This was told did actually happen 10 a pa
tive of the Sandwich Islands while was there
l have frequently seen large pieces Of squid
floating on the water, perhaps killed by the
sperm whale. saw a piece once, while sail
ing, which L judged TO be ten feet in diameter.
have taken them from the whales stomach
whole, from two TO three feet in length.
The squid is active, and when pursued by
an enemy, can eject an inky fluid that will
cover the water for some distance round, and
thus escapes sometimes from his enemy.
have said that 1 supposed the squid
lived by suction; this L shall prove by analo-
gy. As before stated, the squid has no teeth,
and of course cannot chew; its bill is 10 hold
fast with. On good whale ground, if we take
piece Of smooth pearl shell, il will shine
brightly let il be three or four inches long
and one inch wide; TO this lash three fish
hooks at the lower end Of the shell, back to
back, so as to have the points outward have
long lire attacked TO the upper end Of the
she'll, with a small sinker. On some still night
lower the hooks by the line into the ocean,
and as 1t lowers, jerk it up and down. and
continue to lower ii until you feel something
on the hooks; thus you may almost a. any
time hook up a squid Seeing something
bright or shiny, they Immediately dart 10 il,
and embrace it, and so will be hauled up
!" Now comes the question, how does the
whale catch the squid, who is nimble and on
the lookout? / think il is done as follows:
The whale goes down TO such depths, taught
him by law Of nature, where lives the squid,
which was created for lis subsistence The
jaw of the whale, when not disturbed, hsngs
down, suppose from its great weight, and so
bis mouth is open. Displaying those large,
white, glisteniug teeth, and sides of the jaw
also white and shining, the squid no sooner
sees them than he darts on to the jaw and
teeth and so becomes an easy prey. If this
were not so, how could the whale, large and
clumsy as he is, ever find his prey With
his eye where have described he would be
likely to 60 by it aud round il, or see il AMI
lose sight of it. Does any one suppose tho
squid would lie still, hoping that the next
time the whale came round he would re Sd
lucky as to take and deyour him! [ believe
not y
We believe there is one peculiaTity about
the habits of the squid which the writer in
the Scientific American has not mentioned.
These queer locking ishes often congregtte
together in considerable numbers, and So en-
twine their long arms about eseh other that
when single one is hooked by q fisherman,
be will often draw from the water a consider
able number of the fish, attached 10 each
other IN a long, continuous chain