The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1873-12-26
THE DEVIL FISH.
Something More AbOHt Him Little
Devil Captured.
,ondenn. al the Toronte GLOBE.

Correspondence or the 1oronse 1AOoe-
A piece of rare good fortune has fallen
in nv way, in connection with this ex-
traordinary fish. In my last letter, L
gave your readers an account of an inter
view which two of our fishermen had
with . monstrous specimen Of the race
in Conception Bay, and of the amPuta-
ton of two of its arms. Yesterday a
fisherman from Logic Bay called on me
and informed me that he had captured
a DeviI-fsh in a net. On examination
l found that his statement was correct,
and that though the dimensions of this
specimen are small, compared with the
monster of Conception Bay, it is by no
means "to be sneezed at" and is much
larger than Victor Hu2o's celebrated
Devil-fsh am now the possessor of a
complete specimen of this remarkable
cuttle-fsh; and Judging from the articles
which have recently appeared on the
subject in the Scientific 4naericdn, there
is no other specimen on this side of the
Atlantic It took foSIr 1ksE1t fishermen
to kill it; and they we're at length COM
pelled TO cut off its head, in order to ac-
complish their object. Had it not been
entangled in herring net, SO that its
huge arms were not available, as it could
get no hold by its suckers, the men
would have had no chance of captur-
ing it. I have just been examing and
measuring my prize, and certainly it is
one of the most extraordinary and hor-
ribIe creatures ever drawn from the
great deep. The entire length Of the
body is about nine feet, and about five
feet in girth at the thickest part. The
break is smaIl-not much bigger than
| mans .fst-and shaped exactly like
that of a parrot. Round the head eight
arms extend, two of them being long
tentacles, twenty-five feet in length, rib
bon-like strips, not more than two inches
in circumference, and armed at the ex-
| extremities with rows of suckers, haV-
| ing teethed edges. The remaining SIX
are powerful arms, each six feet il
length, and at the junction with ths
body almost as thick as mans thigh
They taper to fine point, and are en-
tirely covered with large suckers, hay
ing denticulated edges, diminishing ii
size towards the extremities, where they
are not larger than split pea Clasp
ed in those six clammy arms, with SOM
800 suckers acting at one moment, ane
their sharp edges sinking into the flesh
and seeming to drink the blood, hoV
powerless and hopless victim would a
once becomel The suckers stand ou
prominently from the surface of TIL
arm, to which each is attached, by
stout ligature. How the creature cal
work these long tentaeles, which ar
but strip of cartilage, darting then
with almost lightning speed, is incon
ceivable. 1 seems to me that they mus
be used as cables to anchor itself to tn
rocks, or to the bottom Of the sea, wher
the water is shallow, and thus give
purchase" in grasping its prey. Pos
sibly, too they may be used as organs c
locomotion in moving forward along tn
bottom of the sea, or for the purpose c
grasping more distant objects, and draw
ing them within the reach of the shorte
and stouter arms. The long arms {
, this specimen are very much thinnel
and not within ten feet of being a
long as the arm brought in. by the fish
ermen of Portugal Cove, which mui
have belonged to very much large
cutie. Although, my specimen is
wonderful sight-a huge cartrilaginou
tube surmounted with beak and eye
= but no face, around which the immens
arms radiate like the spokes of whee
The glutinous mass has liyid, corps
like appearance. If Barnum had it
his show room, what a rush thel
would be to see it, At present it occ'
pies an ignoble position on the floor
= an clubhouse, but am taking measur
to have it preserved.