Sharp County record., 1877-11-23
The Octopus, or Deyil.Fish.

ing attention. Victor Hugo has vividly
described the prodigiouS power
of this devil of the sea, with its long
feelers and great, muscular arms,
covered with rows OF suck
ers, which, instantaneously fastening to
any living thing they touch, drag the
victim under water and to death, to
feed the monster which, hidden in the
crevice of rock, lies in wait for his
prey. More than 2,2OO years ago Arls-
totle recorded observations Of the octO-
pus, or polypus, which shows that he
had then a better knowledge of its ways
than any other writer since his day.
The fish has long been known to natur-
alists. 1t figures among Egyptian hier-
oglyphics, and from knowledge of it
was probably originated the idea Of the
Lernean Hydra, whose heads, when cut
off by Hercules grew again.
In 1867 an octopus was exhibited in
the aquarium in BoulOgne, and in 1872
the first specimen was received in the
Brighton Aquarium. 1t was very small,
and was caught in a lobster-pot at East
bourne. Like all of its kind it diSlikes
the light, and soon built for itself a
grotto of living oysters which the at
tendants called the cottage by the
Sea-" and in which it lay partly con-
cealed most of the time, only occasional
ly emerging from its hiding place, In
January, 1878, it was swallowed whole
by a voraciOuS dogfsh.
The devil-fish now in this city is an
enormous specimen. Its body is 10
feet long, it has two tentacleS 80 feet
long, and eight arms II feet long. The
tenacleS are long, thin, of triangular
form, and tough as leather, and are
armed at the ends with over 100 suckers
each. The arms have two rows of
suckers running their entire length. An
actual count was not made, but it is eS-
timated that altogether it has between
1000 and $500 suckers. The sucking
disks are composed Of muscular men,
brane, whose circumference is thick and
fieShy. The outer circle of the cup is a
horned ring sharply Serrated around its
edge. When they strike victim the
sharp points penetrate the skin, and the
cups, by air exhaustion from within and
consequent pressure of the outer at
mosphere, adhere firmly to the SUBJ
stance to which they are applied. The
object thus secured, so firmly bound by
these terrible arms that no struggle for
freedom can be made, is carried to its
mouth and torn to shreds before it is de-
voured. The head is about two feet
and a half in circumference, the eyes
large and staring, and the beak, formed
almost exactly like a parrots, is very
sharp and very powerful.
The action of the octopus when seiz-
ing its prey is like that of a cat pounc-
ing upon a mouse, but the struggle is
shorter, and there is something deviliSh
in its movements as it plunges its fierce
black, horny beak deep into the quiver-
ing flesh of its yet living victim,
The favorite position of the octopus is
to conceal its body well back in the
crevice of a rock, with two or three of
its arms holding on firmly to the sides,
its other arms and tentacles floating and
feeling about in the water, and its great
eyes in the shadow of it's cave maintain
ing vigilant watch. Crabs, Holsters,
oysters, and all crustacea and mollusks
are its favorite food; small fish it also
has a great liking for, and if one of
either of these ventures within its reach,
quick as flash of lightning the long,
whip-like tentacle strikes it, in another
second the arms have seized and enfold-
ed it, a1d it is being devoured. This
fish eats its food like a bird of prey, and
its beak is strong enough to break its
way through even the tenacious shell of
a turtle. 1t possesses, also, the chame
leon power of being able to change its
color at will, to match the exact shade
of the rocky cave in which it is hiding,
and like human being it turns pale,
from exhaustion or fear, and husheS red
when angry or excited. When captur-
ed and taken from the water, it turns to
an ashy white.
The Sun recently contained an ac-
count of the death of an Indian woman
who had been seized by one of these
terrible creatures while she was bathing
in the sea near Victoria. The utter
helpleSsness Of a human being when in
the devil fish's grasp may be imagined
when it is said that the floating power
of a man is seldom over six pounds, and
that the grasp of a moderate sized, octo-
puS holding fast to a rock is estimated
at not less than 80, and from that to 40
or 80 pounds. In the Brighton Aquari
um small one was seen drawing to-
ward it a stone weighing between 40 and
80 pounds.