The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-01-01
WHOLE No. 27e.
a pEYrr-FTsH oAuanr..
IEztE;aaraInary capture BY Logic Bay Flsi
eEVnsn.

a DEvIr-FTsH CAUGHT.
1exttperainarz Capture by Logic Bay Flsi-.
s s.. sEE4sn-
Ths head Of the nonster struck on, and tlae
whole now In pGelie In ST. John's Inter
est OF Scientific Aren In these Gigantic
cnttless O na q lasA
Correspondents the n. Y. Werld.
ST. JOINS, N. H., December l0.-I
am now the happy possessor OF a com
plete specimen of the devii-fish, ol
which no other is to be found in any
museum in Europe or America. The
circumstances under which.it was cap
tared were very remarkable a few
days age four fishermen of Logic Bay,
which Is few miles from ST, Johns,
were 0verhauting their herring nets,
when they found entangled in their
/ Heshes soEe huge. creature which
made desperate eaortsgto eseape. It's
struggles, were SO violent that their
boat was. nearly capsized, aud thes
were about to aband on their net and
endeaVoF to escape when one of the
men, more courageous than, the 9th
eEsn seized a small tomahawk and
struck it several blows about the head,
W hich put an end to its existence, and
NEARLY severed the head from the bo-
dy. 0nshanling ian their net and land
ing their fish, they were astounded C
! find that ID was q creature such as they
had never before captured. % frextraor-
dinary formation, and considerable
dimen nsf0ns, AT first they were in-
clined TO throw il back into the sea, or
convert il into manure, but being told
by sOEne one that was Interested III
these sea monsters they brought It to
me-. and I very glad y gave them a sum
of money for it which surprised and
pleased them so much that they de-
clared they would soon. bring me an
other. But said one, cts the divil's
fsh sure enough, for It nearly kilt US
entirely. !" "s7s5s.s... .s##.s5l - sa,
Il have had this fish photographed
and carefully examined and measured.
It belongs evidently to the same gf-
gantic species of cuttles as the one
seen in Conception Bay and which I
formerly described; but it is a, Young
one probably not more than two or
three years old, and had ii been SPAR
ed &c would, no doubt, have grown to
be forty or fifty feet in length 1T is,
hoWeyer,a very promising imp indeed
Its body Ia eight feet in length and
five in circumference. It has ten arms
radiating from the head. Of these
two are twenty.four feet In length.
only two inches and half in cfrenm-
ference, aud armed at their broadened
extremities with rows of beautiful
and powerful sucking disks, about
eighty on each arm. They are very
tough and strong. The remaining
eight arms are each six feet in length
and at the junction with the head are
nine inches in circum ference, tapering
to a fine point. The under surface of
each Is covered with rows of large
suckers -ab0ut 100 on each. The
beak, strong and very sharp, the shape
of parrots, is in the middle of the
central mass from which the arms ra-
ldiate, andais about the size of mans
fist.l The eyes are on each side of this
central nucleus, and are each four in
ches In diameter, very dark and beau
tifui, and surrounded by white ring.
Attached to the body, which is but a
huge stomach, are two Ofunnels or tubes,
one for ejeetiag the inky fluid which
It manufactures in unlimited quanti-
ties, and the other for drawing in and
ejectiHg water, The water IS admit
ted by valves, and the oxygen being
extracted from it is expelled by this
tube. When fDrcibly elected, the, re-
action of the surrounding element en-
ables the creature to shoot back wards
with great rapidity. The tail is the
forward moving power.
The discovery here of these gigantic
cuttles excites great interest ia the
scientific world. The account which
appeared in the World has been re-
printed everyWhere. The Natural
History Society of Montreal have had
a adiseussion on the subject, and very
great interest was expressed. Agassiz
has written here to inquire after the
arm that was amputated in Concep-
ton Bay, and is anxious to determine
whether its owner belongs to a new
species of cuttles. He will be IN rap
tnres when he hears we have a COM
plete specimen. shall probably send !
him mine. i have placed it fiji strong
brine, and it SCENE to keep very well. |
The accounts of these gigantic cut
ties have hitherto been very vague
and unreliable, and never before was
Que. of them captured. Professor
DR.. Morch, and Professor
Altman have reported the appearance
Of similar cuttles on the coasts OF Den |
mark and Scotland. Steenstrup has
described two species under the names |
of Archi TeWthis Monarchus and A. |
Dux and it is not impossible that my
specimen may belong to one of these.
In the February number of the Amer
icdn NatRralist DIR. Packard deserib-
ed a specimen ofone of them taken by
a Gloucester fisherman on the Grand |
Bank of Newfoundland, but il was an
imp compared with mine. /
The KFaken OF Eeadinavian mytholo- |
gy is8aiE exaggerated representation |
Of these colossal cuttles. Old POntop-
pidan graEely alleges the existence of |
these cuttees as the cause of the occas-
lonaf disappearance of small islands,
which will hardly be credited In these |
seeplical timessa In the aauaria of /
and Brighton there are two |
living specimens of the devil fish, but /
they are only two or three feet from /
tip to tip a0f the extended arms. IF
the two longest arms of my specimen /
were extended they would be forty |
eight feet between the extremities, and /
two of the shorter arms would be up I
wards of thirteen feet from tip to tip. /
The embrace of these monstrous arms, /
covered with nearly thousand suck
ers. great and small, each sinking into I
the flesh OF the victim and seeming to
drink the blood, would be something
terrible beyond the powers of imagin-
ation. Add to this the CLEAN of those
staring eyes, four inches in diameter,
lashillg with rage, the parrot<like, /
beak aud the clammy, glu-
linous body and deathlike touch OF the
Shiny tentecles, and we have picture
such as the widest romancer has new
sr yet conjured up. ssTruth is strang-
sr than fiction. Victor Hugo was
for the monster he created !;
here is one more monstrons by far.
| have carefully cross-examined the
fishermen whe saw the gigantic cutie
IN Conception Bay. They declare
that their punt, which was close 10 it
and .is twenty feet in length. was
not moro than one-third the lenght of
the fish t.t