The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-03-23
THE DEVIL FISHES OF MONACO.
Playing with the Grizzly-armed Mon.
sters-Tbe Wriggiiug MuranR.
tChicago Times Letter ]

tChicago Times Letter
The seines are brought to shore by men
and emptied by women who, with short petit
coats reaching to their knees and bare legs
and feet wade out into the blue waters to
meet the fishes. Then there is q scene busy
and picturesque. The yield of the net is
piled Ia large baskets and hideous-looking
mass 1t is. fear that, without more init
landmen possess, an enumeration Of the vari-
cites would be waste of words. 1t Is the
atrocity of the spectacle the fearlessness of
the women, that make the attraction of
mass Of sea growth, and ali man
ner OF squirmiDg things, there are mon
sters OF real danger. In one heap have
seen dozen Of the terrible "devl fish" which
Victor Hugo made SO real twenty years ago
in the "Toilers OF the Sea-" Among the
squirming cells OF gigantic proportions which
these beautiful purple-bIue waters yield these
feroclous monsters seem quite harmless. and
they are out Of water, for their force comes
only from their purchase of a rock or some
permanent thing in the water. Once anchored
thus by one OF their squirming snake-like
tentacles, they can use the rest to bend the
limbs OF any creature approaching them
even, man finding by no means un-
well anchored OF clear day you may
take your place In boat out under the
shadow OF the rock yonder with Monaco
above, and looking down among the mystic
rious moses and ferns that interlace them
selves In purple crimson groups among the
smooth stones OF the sea, you can trace the
long, grizzly arms OF these monsters floating
carelessly about in the eddying water, wait
ing for prey. Put a cane or stick OF any sort
down and you will see these floating strings
Of gristle curl and clutch the end, and you
will feel good sturdy pull as the animal be-
low begins to operate. Ii you throw In
manned fish or crab, on the contrary, the
long, curling arms disappear, and in their
hnin con
growing thing-a leaf, q moss-bed thin,
filmy, milky yail-which bulges upward like
bladder and, when the outside lines are above
the object cor presses itself down the rock
again and disa opears, the crab enveloped In
its folds. Parties of pleasure frequently pass
hours watching these extraordinary antics.
The surprisin,; thing is to learn that
the devil-fsh is esteemed as a great
delicacy, and IL company with other yarie-
ties of fish gives he one flavor without which
Thackeray's fam 10 dish ''bouillaibase' is OF
no glory. The han ling Of the beast as caught
In the seine is simply Supplying. Dragging
1t from among TIN wriggling mass in the
basket into which it has been flung the sing
ing dame runs her tt NIB through fat pro-
tuoerance from which he long, winding arms
spring, aud there spu IS out an inky fluid,
staining the coarse, Il hand and arm to a
pitchy hue. This Is the beasts main weapon
of defense against supeJ ior adversarie5 In the
water When attacked like the skunk, it
emitS liquid which renders close quarters
both dangerous and disagreeable, for in the
water the enemy Is blinded by the discolora-
ton OF the water and poisoned by the peculiar
fluid which, being In the water It Is forced to
reSpire. Thus the devil-fsh is respected and
let alone by most Of the voracious monsters,
its neighbors, with whom, when unmolested
1t lives on excellent terms, as you may often
see with good water-glass on a sunny day.
The most repulsive monster after the devil
fish (pleuvre1 is an eel-like creature called the
murBna, mass of wriggling snaky flesh
which makes one shudder merely to look at
1t Is fatal in the water, but like the pleuyre
harmless outside. blow from it's flexible
tail in the water would cut mans BODY
open, and it's teeth are like files. The fish,
too, has history, and | imagine it is the his
tory associated with it which makes the peo-
PIE on the Mediterranean esteem 1t delicious
In the days when Rome lorded the world
rich Romans stocked their ponds with
these voracious monsters, which grow to
the size of mans leg, and were consid-
cred the utmost delicacy by the classic
gOurmets. Whenever the Roman swell set
himself out to give grand entertainment he
kept these fish on starvation diet for a week
or ten days to add to their ferocity: then
when the company was assembled some
slave who had committed fault was thrown
among the hideOus mass of crawling, suuirm-
ing, devouring things to make a meal for
them. The teeth of the fish are so sharp that
the slave was torn in pieces In twenty
minutes, while the cries of the wretched
creature We're drowned by elashng cymbaIs
and the soft strains Of the lutte. Fish of one
sort or another were parts of the accoutre-
ment OF every Roman house, as To this dav
the pond for their maintenance NAV be eeen
as regularly provided as the sleeping cham
Der.