The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-04-22
EXTRAORDINARY ANIMALS.
sea Worms One Hundred and Eighty Feet in
L~enEih-Long Earth Worms aud their
Trenches.

ton Market, "and I'll show you a curl
osity."
Following him down below, the writer
was shown the dried head and about
three feet Of the body of a fish very
similar in APP aarance to the common
mackerel.
"Iye told this yarn all the way down
the coast from the Grand Banks, but
can't get anybody to believe me-" the
skipper said; $50 you can swear me in,
if you want TO-"
Declining the offer, the skipper took
an oath on his own account that what
he was about to relate was true.
"Where's the tail of the fish,"
'That's just what I'm going to tell
you" he replied. "About twelve months
ago 1 shipped as a senior from Falmouth,
England, after herring and most every
thing We could get. We hauled all the
way up the coast, and wet work it was.
One day we saw a big school, and ran
round 'em, and as we hauled in / no.
ticed that something out of the common
run was in the net; and when it began
to shoal the fish commenced jumping
round at a great rate. The first we
knew a fish that looked like a snake run
out of the water about ten feet, and the
second mate, with a swing of the oar,
knocked it back and finished it. 1t got
covered up with the others, but at last |
came across its head and started to lift
it aboard. | hauled in about fifteen feet
Of the body, expecting to see the tail;
then l brought in ten feet more, and
still there was no tail. The stern of the
boat was now full of the fish, so we pass
ed the head aboard the lugger, and three
or four of the hands hauled away on it,
while ! paid it out of the seine like a
hawser. 1 thought the tail would never
come, and after 1 had taken in twenty
five feet more, the body was as big as
ever, and no signs of tapering off; but
there's an end to all things, and after
taking in about five feet more, we came
to the tail. The men had led the fish
around the foremost and aft again, and
by actual measurement it wa sixty-fve
feet long. The body was very thin, only
about four inches through and nineteen
inches high at the biggest part, and it
looked more like a big silver cable than
anything else. If l could have, got it
here, I'd have made my fortune, but the
skipper cut it up, and l only managed
to save his head"
81 suppose" he added, in conclusion,
''you think that's q pretty good yarn,
but it's as true as Gospel"
The writer was not only able to credit
the story, but fortunately could attest to
its correctness by the recital of asimilar
occurrence off the coast of Scotland,
much to the qualification of the commu-
NEGATIVE skipper. Cases of the capture
of these fishes of even greater dimen-
sions have been chronicled before. The
name Of the fish is RegaiceaS BnakSkii,
or commonly the ribbon fish, As their
name indicates, they are long and thin,
and in some the coloring is very beauti-
full. The first authentic account of the
of one is recorded by Lord Nor
bury of Elio Lodge, Fifeshire, who was
in the seining business that was carried
on in the Firth of Forth. He hired the
smack Sovereign, Capt. Baltic, for a
and in one of their hauls they
took a fish which, when spread out, ex-
tended beyond the limits of the vessel
from stem to stern. The smack was a
vessel of forty tons, and her length more
than sixty feet, so the fish was estimated
to exceed that about twenty feet, while
width was only eighteen inches at
largest part, including the dorsal or
top fin, Unfortunately Lord Norbury
caused the fish to be cut up, not keep
ing it because the men asserted that they
were quite common, and they had fire.
seen them neal the Hebrides
much larger. A well-preserved speci-
men Of n small n can be seen in the
museum at Newcastle, England. ]. is
5welve feet three inches in length; the
depth, eleven and a quarter in
,hes, and greatest thickness two and
;hree-quarter inches, showing hat the
height does not increase with the length.
There are numerous genera of them.
The skin is smooth, and in some species
contains smooth microscopic scales and
bands of soft or hard tubercles imbedded
n the skin. Others have rows of super
icial bony shields. The top fin extends
he whole length of the back, the front
avs standing upright. The tail varies
with the genus. In n it is
imilar to that of other fishes, while in
nother-the Stylephore-the dorsal fin
nds abruptly in four sharp. spiky fins,
nd from them a long, delicate round
all, longer than the rest of the body,
xtends, giving it a very snake-like APP
'earance. The mouth is small and pro-
and from the delicate structure
f the fish, and the fact that it has no
IT. bladder, 1t is evident that it is an in
abitant of the deepest waters of the sea.
The ribbon fish is without doubt
nidue among its fellows rs regards