Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-10-19
A Sea Monster.

A Sea Monster.
A correspondent of the New York
World, writes from St. Johns n. f
on the 29th ult. the following &C.
count of gigantic cuttle-fish or as
is commonly called-devil- fish. The
exhibition of SO fine a specimen of
this rare fish created great excite
ment as might have been expected.
Only one complete specimen of
this extraordinary animal was ever
previously secured-that was in
1878, when a perfect specimen was
taken in Logic Bay and forwarded
to Professor Verill, of Yale College,
who made an exhaugtive study of
it and described it in various scien-
tiffic periodicals. 1t is now to be
seen in the Peabody Museum, New
Haven. The capture and the ami
NAL were pescribed at length and
exclusively at the time, and made
the greatest sensation in scientific
circles as well as among newspaper
readers in both hemispheres. The
one which now to describe is
much larger and finer specimen, be-
ing forty feet from the extremity
of the long arms to the point of the
tail. On the 22d inst. heavy equi-
'noctial gale swept these shores, and
this wanderer of the deep was driv-
en- ashore in an exhausted condition
at Catlina, ON the northern shore of
Trinity Bay. When stranded it
was still alive, but died soon after
the ebb of the tide, which left it
high and dry on the beach. Two fish
ermen took possession of the ''treas-
ure trove," and the whole settlement
gathered to gaze i'll astonishment at
the monster. Formerly this "big
squid," as the fishermen call it,
would have beeh converted into ma
nure by the fishermen, or cut up as
food for dogs; but now, thanks to
the diffusion of Intelligence, there
were some in Catlina who know
the Importance OF preserving such
rarity, and who advised the fisher
men to take it at once to st. Johns.
The two men loaded their little
craft with the body of the gigantic
cutie, and arrived with it here on
the 26th in perfectly fresh cOndi-
ton. As soon as the news spread
an eager desire 10 view the monster
was awakened, and the fishermen
were advised to exhibit it before the
public. The Government granted
the use of the drill-shed for the pur-
pose, and on the floor, supported by
boards, the creature was laid out III
all its gigantic proportions. The lucky
fishermen reaped golden harvest
and found the big squid by far the
best catch they bad ever made. The
scene was very curious. There lay
the cutie with its ten arms stretched
out, two of them 80 feet i'll length,
having rows of powerful suckers ali
Inch i'll diameter at their broadened
extremities. The other arms, eight
i'll number, were entirely covered
with suckers on the under side and
IL feet in length. The body is 10
feet Ill length and nearly Z feet IN
circumference, and terminates III a
caudal fin 2 feet 9 inches across.
When taken from the water the col
or of the squid was a dusky red, but
that has disappeared, and the body
and arms are now perfectly white.
There is the usual horny beak, the
parrot-like mandibles which pro-
iect from a membraneous bag in the
center of the mass which constitutes
the head, and from which the ten
arms radiate. Certainly the idea OF
being clutched in those terrible
arms, from which there could be no
escape when once they had closed,
and then torn and rent by the for
midable beak, is enough to send a
shuddering thrill through the stout
est heart. Looking at this creature,
one can understand that the wild |
tales told of Krakens and other
great cuttles in the Indian seas,
though greatly exaggerated, had a
very substantial foundation in fact.
PosteriOr to the head were pair of |
huge staring eyes, the sockets being |
eight inches in diameter. Their ex-
preston, when the creature was
alive on the beach, is said by the |
fishermen to have been peculiarly |
ferocious. The Governor, Sir John |
Glover, visited it, and declared that
in all his heightened experience in
Africa, he had seen nothing half so
wonderful 1t is very perishable,
and in d short time decomposition |
sets in and it can only be preserved |
in the strongest alcohol. Our show
men could only continue the exhibit
ton two days and half. man.
aged to secure it at the close, and |
had packed it for transmission to
Professors Baird and VeriIl, who |
were fortunately in Halifax. being |
in hopes ice-Of which used half a |
ton in packing it-would preserve it
till it reached Halifax, finally to be
placed either in the Peabody or
Museum, but at the last
moment the owner violated his con
tract and sold it to later and high
er bidder.
l have carefully taken the meas
urement of the monster, ana Ehe
following are the dimensions; Inc
two long tentacles are eaoh % LeeU'
the bodV 10 feet in length, making |