The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1894-03-09

The nasklnr shark Sometimes OrowH t. =
Lsngth Of rhirty-Five feee
There was great commotlon In the
geological department Of the Stanford
university, San Francisco, the other
afternoon, when President Jordan re-
ceived a telegram from an Italian fish
erman at Monterey saying that he had
caught monster OF baslSing shark,
and ipquiriug II they wanted H. Did
they want itq Well. President Jordan
rushed from his Office across the quad
rangle TO the geological laboratory,
where Prof. Gilbert and some other
fish sharps were busy with piclSled fish,
and with dignihed excitement flour
ished the telegram. lie jerked out his
watch and said there were thirty min
utes before the Monterey train would
get to Palo Alto, over a mile away, and
Prof, Gilbert grabbed his hat He
called an expert assistant who could
hustle, and the two scientists made
that train. The fisherman soon got
his answer. President Jordan would
have missed two dinners to go along,
but he couldn't. All this haste and in
terest, says the San Francisco Exam
liner, show how much value a baslxing
shark is to a scientist. He is not of
much value to anybody else. His value
arises, like that Of many other things,
mainly from his rarity, for baSlxing
sharks are not seen every day, and
ichthyologists find few opportunities
to study them. The baslxing shark is
an object Of popular as well as scien-
tifc interest It is the largest fish
that swims the sea. II isn't as big us
bow-hcad whale. but the whale is
not fish, but mammal. The speci-
men captured somehow by the Italian
fisherman, who has standing order
from the Stanford university for any
thing new or queer in his line, is
thirty-five feet long and measures
nearly fifteen feet perpendicularly
through the back. These proportions
make it Us large as many a whale, and
It is a homely and lubberly thing 70
look at, 1t Is called selache maxima
in the books.
The size Of the specimen at Monte
rey shows II 10 be one OF the largest OF
its kind, though they sometimes grow
several feet longer. A reported sea
serpent, fifty feet long, stranded al
Stronsa in 1905, is supposed TO have
been baslSing shark This greatest
OF fishes is also the least ferocious OF
sharks. II sticks pretty well to the
bottom OF the ocean, Is sluggish In
movement, and feeds on crustaeea, sea
weed, etc, instead of other fishes. l.
belongs to the northern seas, but In
summer descends TO middle ATTITUDES.
81 do not know what Prof, Gilbert
viii try to do with the specimen" said
President Jordan, "but Il Is worth go
ing after even to photograph II moth
ing else. They are rarely caught and
have been able to&ee bnt one on THU
coast. That was in 1880 at Monterey
We chopped out piece Of one of IL,
gills and it was all one man wanted Il
carry. Pictures OF the basking shark
are not reliable representations, foi
there have been few chances to draw
them. There are probably but a few
hundred in the ocean. The British
museum has standing offer Of one
thousand dollars for the skin of one
but man would earn his money get
ting II, for 1t would take two months
TO skin the fish and care properly foI
the hide. Prof. Gilbert may try tc
take the skin and ne may only take the
head. At any rate it is a valuable OPP
portunity for study