Thomas County cat., 1886-08-19
GULF MONSTERS.
Hapacious Sharks and Big Devll-E5oh
Found I'm Galveston Bay.


a.pacious Sharks and Big Devil-F,sh
Found I'm Galveston BAY.
The Gulf of Mexico and Galveston
Bay are both favorite resorts Of many
members of the shark family. some Of
which attain large size, there having
been for exhibition at the sheriff of
fee for months the jaws of one of these
monsters, armed with three rows of
savage teeth, which, when opened.
could easily be place / over the shoulders
of large man. The monster 10 which
these sangulnary appendages pcrtained
measured, when i'll good health. seven
teen feet from tip of nose to end of
tail. Of the one hundred different
species known perhaps a half-dozen
inhabit these waters. and although both
formidable and repulsive in appear
ance there are no well authenticated
instances since the settlement of the
city of their having attacked man, al
though they are both voracious and
fearless when hungry. as the following
incident will show: Last summer as
the quarantine steamer Hygeia was
coming in from outside the bar, large
school of porpoises were playing
around the vessel, when the engineer,
BILLY Bristol, opened fire on them
with an old-fashioned fcrty-fve-caliber
revolver, and by chance shot
killed one. The vessel was
stopped, and the porpoise, which would
weigh several hundred pounds, secured
BY stout moose around the tail AMI
left hanging over the ships side head
ments huge shark, probably eighteen
feet in length, made rush for the por-
poise, and, although fired upon. cut it
in twain, and shortly after made
another rush for the remainder, and
bit that in two just above the tail.
which was left hanging, and made of
despite the fact that two pistol shots
were fired a: his head without any ap-
parent effect On the last rush the
sharks head was well out of water,
and when fired ON was not more than
three or four feet from the pistols muz-
Zle.
No small degree Of excitement was
caused in the city during the latter
part of July. 1885, by visit to the
Gulf shores of school of fish known
rs the cephalOptera vampyrus, or
devil-6sh, one of which was captured
and placed on exhibition. The fish capt
urcd measured eight feet in length
and sixteen feet four inches in width,
and weighed several thousand pounds.
A description given at the time was as
follows: Head truncated in front and
provided with q pointed. wing-likc
process separate from the pectoral
fins, seemingly capsule of in
dependent motion. These wings
or horns, provided on either side of the
head, are two feet two inches in length,
triangular in shape, resembling wings,
making the transverse diameter of the
fish greater than the longitudinal, with
tail included. These pectorals from
tip to tip measure sixteen feet four
inches, while the body proper is only
eight feet in length anil the tail about
three feet and six inches. The jaws
are at the end of the head, the lower
the more advanced, and the transverse
diameter of the mouth measures two
feet ten inches. The eyes are small
anu ldtCI6i. ICSChDIlLS tuOoC VI I'LL
elephant, and are situated on either
outer side of the protruding wings. or
frontal horns, and are consequently
about three feet apart. The tail IS
elongated with whiplash, armed near
the root with prominently serrated
spinal protuberancc. The teeth are
small, numerous, flat, and arranged in
many rows. The mouth when opened
could easily accommodate flour bar
rel. The nostrils are small, and are
situated near the angles of the mouth,
and openings. which are probably the
ears, are situated on the dorsal aspect
of the appcndages of the head behind
the ears. Several large linear open
ings Give on each side), are in the
stomach. The skin is rough to the
touch, of blackish brown, and the belly
white and very Shiny. = Galceston
(1er.) News.