Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-06-07
ALuminous Shark.

"Perhaps the most curious true shark
experience occurred to some divers in
Australian waters, said man of science
to Cincinnati Enquirer reporter. ''They
were ordered to go down and make
report on the bark c. Nj. Thurlow, which
capsized in Melbourne harbor while wait,
ing for ballast She was lying at anchor
driving her sails when sudden squat
struck them aloft, and over she went
drowning some OF the crew, who were
below preparing her for ballast When
the divers went down they worked their
way into the hold, which was, of course,
as dark as night. They found two of
the men, made them fast to the life lines
and, seeing that the vessels hull was all
right, were about to climb out when
they were astonished by a mysterious
light that appeared overhead. They re-
manned perfectly quiet, the light growing
more and more distinct, until finally
overhead swan small shark about four
feet in length, from whose body emanated
a soft but brilliant light that Illuminated
the ship in ghostly fashion. For a
moment the men were almost paralyzed
with fear but the shark slowly moved
along and at last disappeared, leaving
them again in total darkness. It
is hardly necessary to say that they
made short work of getting up to
the surface. where their story was
naturally doubted and, though they per
sisted in it, it was not believed until DR..
Bennett and his brother made a similar
discovery. Here is his description of the
fine. He says: Being dark when |
first saw it shining in the net, it resembled
pyrosoma, emitting as it did bright
phosphorescent light. The length of my
specimen was five and a half inches. 1t
is not little singular that my brother
obtained a specimen of this fish in almost
the same latitude The first was taken
in the day time, and was ten inches in
length, much larger than my specimen.
The second was taken at night, and its
entire length was one and half feet.
Both were alive when captured, and
fought fiercely with their jaws, tearing
the net in several places. On placing my
fish in sea water and observing it in the
dark cabin, it swan about for some time,
emitting bright phosphoric light; and
when this had become so faint as to be
almost impeTceptible it was readily rekin-
died on the animal being disturbed on
excited. My specimen was perfectly
black color, and died about four hours
after it had been taken, but the luminosity
was retained for some hours
after life was extinct. When the
larger specimen, taken at night, was
removed into dark apartment it az
forded a very extraordinary spectacle.
The entire inferior surface of the body,
and head emitted vivid and greensh
phosphorescent CLEAN, imparting to the
creature, by its own light, truly ghast-
ly and terrific appearance. The lumin-
GUS effect was constant and not percept-
IDLY increased by agitation or friction.
thought at one time it shone brighter
when the fish struggled but was not
satisfied that such was the fact. When
the shark expired (Which was not until
it had been put out of the water more
than three hours the luminous appear
ance faded entirely from the abdomen,
and more gradually from other parts.
Lingering the longest around the jaws
and on the fms The only part of the
under surface of the animal which was
free from luminosity was the black collar
around the throat and while the in.
IeTlOF surface Oh INC DcClOFdl, anal anu
caudal fins shone with splendor, their
superior surface, including the upper
lobe of the tail-fn, was in darkness, as
also were the dorsal fins, back and sum
init of the head.
IL am inclined to believe that the lumi-
nous power of this shark resides in pc
culiar secretion from the skin 1t was
my first impression that the fish had &C
cidentally contracted some phosphorus
cent matter from the sea, or from the net
in which it was captured, but the most
rigid investigation did not confirm this
suspicion, while the uniformity with
which the luminous CLEAN occupied Ger
tain portions of the body and fins, its
permanence during life and decline and
cessation on the approach Of death, did
not leave doubt In my mind that it was
a vital principle, essential to the economy
of the animal. The small size Of the
fms would appear TO denote that this hsh
lis not active In swimming, and, since i
Is highly pugnacious, and evidently Of
nocturnal habits, we may perhaps in.
dulge in the hypothesis that the phos
phorescent power it possesses is Of use 70
attract its prey, upon the same principle
as the Polynesian islanders an Others
employ torches in night fishing"