The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-03-20
THE DEVIL FISHES OF MONACO.
Playing with the Grizzly ruaed Monster
The WEIEgIInE MurRnR.


men and emptied by women who, with
short petticoats reaching to their knees
and bare legs snd feet, wade out into the
blue waters to meet the fishers. Then
there is a scene busy and picturesque.
The yield of the net is piled in large
baskets, and q hideous looking mass it is.
I fear that without q more intimate
knowledge of marine life than most
lsndmen possess, an enumeration of the
varieties Wonld be waste of words. It
is the atrocity of the spectacle, the
fearlessness OF the women, thst make the
attraction of it. For In the black,
reeking, Shiny mass of sea growth, and
all manner OF squirming things, there are
monsters of real danger. In one heap
have seen a dozen of the terrible " devil
fish which Victor Hugo made so real
twenty years sgo in the " Foilers of the
Sea-" Among the squirming eels of
gigantic proportions which these beauti-
full purple-blue waters yield, these Zero
ci0us monsters seem quite harmless, and
they are, cut of water, for their force
comes only from their " purchase " of s
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 s by no means unequal
combat when the fish is large and well
anchored.
OF a clear day you may take your
place in boat out under the shadow OF
the rock yonder, with Monaco above,
snd looking down among the moses and
ferns that iDterlsce themselves 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, waiting for
prey. Put q 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 q good sturdy pull as
the animals below begin to operate. If
you throw in a manned fish or crab, on
the contrary, the long, curling arms dis
appear, and in their stead you see shoot
out from below some growing thing-a
leaf, q moss bed, thin, filmy, milky vail
(which bulges upward like 8 bladder
and, when the outside lines are above
the object, congresses itself down the
rock again and disappears, the crab
enveIoped in its folds. Parties of pleas
ure frequently pass hours watching these
extraordinary antics.
The surprising thing is to learn that
the devil fish is esteemed as a great
delicacy, and in company with other
varieties of fish gives the one flavor wi h
out which Thackersy's famous dish
bouillaibaise" is of no glory. The
handling of the beast as caught in the
seine is simply Supplying. Dragging it
from among the wriggling mass in the
basket into which it has been flung, the
sir ging dame runs her thumb through a
- -. 81,
winding arms spring, and there spurts
out an iuky fluid, staining the coarse,
red hand and arm TO a pitchy hue. This
is the beasts main weapon of defense
against superior adversaries in the water
When attacked, ike the skBuk, it emits
q liquid which renders close quarters
both dangerous and disagreeable, for in
the water the enemy is blinded by the
discOlOraTion OF the water and poisoned
by the peculiar fluid which, being in the
water, it is forced to respire. Thus the
devil fish is respected and let alone by
most of the YOTaciOus monsters, its neigh
bors, with whom, when unmolested, it
lives on txcellent terms, as you may often
see with a good water-glass on sunny
day.
The most repulsive monster after the
devil-fish (pleuvre) is an eellike crea-
ture called the mul = IA, mass of wrig-
Cling, snaky flesh which makes one
shuddeT merely to look at. It is fatal in
the water, but, like the pleuvre, harm less
outside. a blow from its flexible tail in
the water would cut mans body open,
and its teeth are like files. The fish, too,
has history, and l imagine it is the
history associated with it which makes
the people on the Mediterranean esteem
it SO delicious. In the days when Rome
loTded the world, rich Romans stocked
their ponds with these voracioUs mons
steTs, which grew to the size of a mans
leg, and were considered the utmost
delicacy by the classic gOurmets. When>
ever the Roman swell set himself out to
give a 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 Assem- bied some
slave who had committed q fault was
thrown among the hideOus mass OF crawl
ing, squirming, devOuring things to
make a meal for them. The teeth of the
fish are so sharp that the slave was torn
to pieces in twenty minutes, while the
cries of the wTetched creature were
drowned by clashing cymbsls and the
soft strains of the Lutte. Fish of one
sort or another we're parts OF the accouA
trement OF every Roman house, as to
this day the pond for their maintenance
may be seen as regularly provided as the
sleeping chamber.