The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-01-13
4 Real Devil Fish.

devil fish seen off the coast of New Found
land. lie says two Of our fishermen were
out 10 small boat in Conception Bay.
Suddenly they discovered . dark, shape
less mass floating on the surface OF the
water short distance from them. On
approaching it the men concluded it was
a huge bale of goods, perhaps part of the
cargo of some wrecked vessel, and that
they had found valuable prize. One
of them struck the object with his boat
hook, When suddenly the dark heap be-
came animated, opened out like huge
umbrella without handle, and the hor.
ror.strlcken fishermen bcheld "a face full
Of intelligence but also Of ferocity, and a
pair of gbastly green eyes glaring at
them, its huge, parrot-like beak seeming
to open with a savage and malignant
purpose. The men were petrified with
terror, and for moment SO fascinated
with the horrible sight that they were
powerless. The eyes of the monster were
peculiarly large and prominent, bright
and apparently cleaning with rage Be-
fore the fishermen could make any effort
to escape, the creature, now but few
feet from the boat, appeared to open out,
and suddenly there shot out from around
ito faoo sovnral long arms Of corpse-lke
aeshiness, graphing for the boat aud seek
ing to cnvelop it in their iivid folds. Had
these 1.-THE, Shiny arms, with their death.
like, adhesive powers, once fastened them
selves on tho boat or The men, nothing
could have saved them from destruction,
tor when the suckers with which they are
furnished have taken hold nothing can
tear them away. They would have been
brought in a moment within reach Of the
powerful bcak which was ready to dart
upon them.
Ouiy one of the longer tentacula
reached tho boat, and owing to its length.
went completely over and beyond it.
Quick as lightning opo Of tho men teized
MS tomahawk. and at one blow severed
the corpse.lke arm which was flung over
the boat to drag it to destruction. The
groen.eyed mons,er uttered 10 cry Of
pain, but disappeared beneath the wateIs.
and the fishermen, who had thus escaped
from horrible death, found themselves
in possession of the amputated srin-an
unprecedented trophy. fnr | believe no
parallel occurrence is on record.
The po7tion Of the krakeu'5 arm am
putatcd by this rude surgical opera
ton has been forwarded to St Johns
I have just returned from a careful
examination of it 1t measures nine
teen fee; ia length, aud is tough and
fbrous, but not thicker than mans
wrist. The fisherman who acted as sur.
geon declares that there must have been
at least six feet Of the arm left behind
attached to the monsters body, Indeed,
| am inclined to think from the descrip-
ton that the devil-fish must have still
ten feet of bis arm remaining, making
its entiro length twenty'Dine feet. lie
could we'll spare few feet. though he
will probably feel awkward for time il
graphing for his prey,owing TO the want
of his forearm. Perhaps, like the lobster
he can grow a new limb. But the ques
tion remains, Nnat SIZE Is the LuJ, "
the monster ] am unable to answer thi
question with any accuracy; but | an
heartless enough to hope that the devil
fish may die soon Of the wound inflicted
By the tomahawk, aud that the body maj
c float ashore in Conception Bay. The ac
S count Of the fishermen in regard to th
.ize of the fish is hardly reliable, as the,
p were sorely frightened, but they describ
> it as forty feet in length. This l consid
' er is an exaggeration. as the body Of tn
e cuttle-fsh is small in proportion to tn
c length Of its tentaces. 'rbc amputate'
e arm is livid in color, pointed at the ex
o tremity, where it is covered with row
d Of suckers, which are cartiliginous, horny
i and about the size Of a quarter dollar.
n 1t seems to me that the arm Of thi
+ gigantic cutie which We now possess
l. one of the two long 'entacdla which i
e certain species extend in the midst of th
'i shorter arms, and which, like them, al
J. furnished with disks or suckers. TheI
n are eight aptenD@ in all, two Of them b'
l ing much longer than the others. b
means Of these it can either anchor itse
lie to the rock or grasp its prey almost I
St quick as lightning at the distance Of I
g. least thirty feet. 1t is evident that tn
'r is far more gigantic monster than eve
that which Victor Hugo describes, L!
devil-Gsh, with outstretched arms, vi
s. only "four or Eve feet in diameter" al
~ had no saake.!i;e appendages reachir
Ut ont thirty feet. The body,too, was not
r. ing iu comparison with that of our krake
y, Fac. is often stranger than 6ction
ID The widest dreams OF the novelist a
to often surpassed By realities.
u What horrible thing to be ent8in'
p 10 the embrace of those clammy, corp
IN like arms, and 10 feel their folds cree
Ite ing and gliding around you,and the disk
10 with their cold, adhesive touch, glui
DC themselves to you with u grasp that not
ad ing could relax. Tho monster darts the
nd with q snake.like, undulating motto;
by swiftly they glide around their yict
l'y with pressure like a tightening col
'g' the suckers feeling like so many moul
aet 1evouring him at the same time. Slow
ity the horrible arms, supple as eath
'en strong as steel, cold as death, draw tn,
ry' prey under the terrible beak, and press
against the glutinous mass which for
the body. The cold Shiny grasp paral.
Gu es the victim with terror as the power
''r mandiblos rend and devour Each
iv y Q, the eight arms carries fifty sucking dis
y: according to Victor Hugo, or 400 in l
'ia Probably the monster / have been
scribing has many more.
,olf These suckers act on the principle o
, !. cupping.gla Each of them consists
firm, fleshy, cartilagipous ring, acr
90 which a disk of muscular membrane
TON stretched, with circular aperture in
centre. A cone.shaped mass of flesh
: ia this aperture, like a piston. capable
sv being drawn backward The membr
L A. l.