Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-03-12
Capture of Two More DevfI-Fish.

|
On the 2d of.December last William
Buigell, fisherman residing in a place
called Three Arms, Newfoundland,
saw, after a heavy gale of wind, a huge
shapeless mass on the beach. II proved
to be "a big squid," as our fishermen
call them, which had been cast up by
the waves, and it was dead when dis
| covered. Unfortunately, BudgelI did
not know the value of his discovery.
Had he preserved it perfect and put II
into strong brine and brought it TO ST.
Johns he could have sold 1t for large
sum-probably $500 to $500. hayein-
struetiOns from an eminent English
zoolOgist to secure for him good spic-
linen, at almost any cost, and 10 de-
spatch it to London in alcohol. The
poor fisherman had some hungry dogs
at home, and here he thought he had
secured them a winters diet. Accord
ingly he cut it up into small pieces. 50
As To transport il to his residence in
Three Arms. My informant, very in
telligent person., who was on a visit in
that quarter ::on business, arrived at
Budgelfs house soon after he had
brought il home in a mutilated state,
and carefully measured some portions
body measured fifteen feet from the
beak to the..end of the tail, which is five
feet longer than the New York spesi-
men. The circumference of the body
at its thickest part was twelve feet
He found only one of the short arms
perfect, which was sixteen feet in
length, being five feet longer than u
similar arm OF the New York specimen,
and he describes it as ''thieker than
mans thigh" The devil-fish has ten
arms, two of them called tentacles,
being usually about three or four times
the length of the other eight arms, bnt
quite slender in comparison. Now if
one of the stouter arms was sixteen
feet, the tentacleS would be forty-eight
feet, which quite exceeds the dimen-
sions of any specimen previously found
The tentacles of the New York speci-
men were thirty feet in length, thin
and tough as leather. The second
specimen whose capture | have to mar
rate, was taken under more picturesque
circumstances, and greatly exceeded
the former in dimensions of body. On
the 2d day of November last Stephen
Sherring. fisherman residing in Thim-
Vol fa
where the other devil-fish was cast
ashore was out in boat with two
other men; not far from the shore they
Obsereyd some bulky object, and, sup
posing it might be part OF a wreck,
they rowed toward it, and, to their hOr-
rOr, found themselves close TO a hugh
fish, having large CLASSY eyes, which
was making desperate efforts to escape,
and churning the water into foam by
the motion of its immense arms and
tail 1t was aground and the tide was
ebbing. From the funnel at the back
of its head it was ejecting large vol
umes of water, this being its method OF
moving backward, the force of the
stream, by the reaction of the SUI
rounding medium, driving it in the re-
quired direction. AT times the water
from the siphOn was black as inh.
Finding the monster partially disabled,
the fishermen plucked up courage and
ventured near enough to throw the
graphel of their boat, the sharp flukes
of which, having barbed points, sunk
into the soft body. TO the graphel
they had attached a stout rope which
they had carried ashore and tied to
tree, 50 aS To prevent the fish from
going out with the tide. II was hap
py thought, for the devil-fish found
himself etfectually mOored to the shore
His struggles were terrific as he flung
his ten arms about in dying agony. The
fishermen took good care to keep r.
spectful distance from the long ten;a-
eles which ever and anon darted out
like great tongues from the central
mass. At length it became exhausted
and as the water receded it expired.
The fishermen, alas, knowing no bet
ter, proceeded to convert il into dogs
meat. 1t was a spledid specimen
the largest yet taken-the body meas
uring twenty feet from the beak TO tho
extremity OF the tail. It was thus ex-
actly double the size of the New York
specimen, and five feet longer than the
one taken by Budgell. The eircumfer-
ence of the body is not stated, but one
of the arms measured thirty-feet.-Thi
must have been a tentacle.