The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-01-24
SUGGEST FISH IN THE SEA.
The BaskinE shark Sometimes Grows 10
Length of ThIrfy-Fise Feet

The Raskinz shark Sometimes Grows 70
Length OF ThIrIy-Fise Feet
There was great conmOtion In the
geological department OF the STANFORD
university, San Francisco, tho other
afternoon. when President Jordan re-
ceived telegram from an Italian nsh-
ernan at Monterey saying that he had
caught a monster of basking shark,
and inouiriug If they wanted it Did
thew want itP Well President Jordan
r,sbed from his Office across the qusc
rsugie to tbe geological laboratory,
where Prof. Gilbert and some other
fish sharps were busy with picked hshi
and with dignified excitement -four
ished the telegram he jerked out hls
watch and said there were thirty min
utes before the Monterey train would
get to Palo Alto, over mile away, and
Prof. Gilbert grabbed his hat lie
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 70 go along,
but he couldn't All this haste and in
terest, says the San Francisco Exam
iner, show how much value basking
shark IS to Z scientist He Is not OF
much value to anybody else His value
arises, like that OF many other things,
mainly from his rarity, for baSklng
sharks are not seen every day, and
ichthyologists find few opportunities
TO study them. The basking shark IS
an object OF popular as well as scien-
tific interest. II Is the largest fish
that swilns the sea II isn't as big as
a bow-head whale, but the whale IS
not a fish, but a mammal. The speei-
men captured somehow 10y the Italian
fisherman. who has a standing order
from the STANFORD university for any
thing new or queer IN his line, Is
thirtv-fve feet long and measures
nearly fifteen feet perpendicularly
through the back. These proportions
make il as large as many whale, and
il Is a homely and lubberly thing to
look At II is called selache maNims
in the books
The size Of the specimen st Monte
rev 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 at
Stronsa in 1S0s, is supposed 10 have
been a basking shark This greatest
Of fishes is also the least ferociOus OF
sharks 1t sticks pretty wen to the
bottom Of the ocean, IS sluggish in
movement, and feeds on crustscea, sea
weed, etc, instead of other fishes j.
belongs 10 the northern seas, but in
summer descends 20 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 if moth
ing else. They are rarely caught and
have been able TO see but one on this
coast. That was in 1850 at Monterey.
We chopped ont piece Of one OF its
gills and it was all one man wanted to
carry. Pictures Of the basking shark
are not reliable representations, for
there have been few chances to draw
them. There are probably but a few
hundred IN the ocean. The British
museum has a standing offer OF one
thousand dollars for the skin OF one,
bat a man would earn his money get
ting Il, for II would take two months
20 skin the fish and care properly for
the hide. Prof Gilbert may try to
take the skin and he may only take the
head II any rate It Is a valuable op-
portunity for study"