The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-24
DESTRUCTION or the SEALS.
Killer Whale Responsible In Large
Measure For Their DimInuti0n.

From the Washington Star.
Capt. Edward p. Herendeen, doorl1eeper
at the Smithsonian Institute is an old
whaler of New Bedford Mass and knows
the things which swim In the sea far bet
ter than the majority of men know the
animals of their own country. Speaking
to Star reporter regarding the destruc-
ton of the seals by the KILLER whale" or
orca, Capt. Herendeen said:
after man. the orca is by. far the cause
of a greater depletion of the seal rookeries
than any other known. I saw a killer
whale cut open once. which had no less
than nineteen seal pups in it's stomach, all
as natural as life. The whale had been
run on a bar while chasing the pups, and
was stranded. The old males drive the
seal pups down into the water to learn
to swim, and the Killer liking young and
tender flesh, preys upon them.
THE orca is willing to fight almost any
thing which swms. but prefers the young
of any animal. The only thing l never
knew the killer to tackle was the sperm
whale and this species was left severely
alone, though other varieties Of whales /
have seen hustle to get out of the way of
the killer The reason the latter Is cha
ry of attacking the sperm Is that the spe-
Giles fights with both ends-head ana tail
and can bite like a bulldog.
Il have seen the big bull seals so fright
ened at the Killers that they would dive
underneath the boat, from side to side
and act as II they were scared out Of
their hides. The 'orca' has one peculiari-
ty which is that 1t has fin, sometimes
six feet high, projecting above Its back.
shaped something like the paddle of a
ships screw. AS IT swims along, this
sticks out above the water The FISH bites
like any other mammal, without turning
on its side.
THE idea that a shark turns on its side
TO bite is a mistake, as / have seen them
hundreds of times. They rush at a thing
Just as a dog would. After they have set
their teeth in 1t they may turn over, wor-
rying and mangling whatever they have
hold of. They turn from side of side to
tear the piece out"
Speaking of sea food out of the common,
Capt Herendeen said:
81 have eaten seal and walrus steaks,
and the walrus Is much better than the
seal. The flesh of the latter is dark, while
the walrus Is much on the order of beer,
the fiber being coarse. I have eaten the
flesh of the devil fish more than once, and
have found 1t palatable 1t resembles lob
ster extremely, but it much tougher. 1t
makes by no means a bad dish.
II saw a devil fish once which measur-
ed about 16 feet across, from the end of
one of the suckers 20 the tip of the other.
It's body could have been held in a five
gallon pot.
THE creature has the faculty of dis
charging some sort of a substance in the
water which discolors II so 1t cannot be
followed. 1t Is dangerous to meet one, I'M
protected, in the water, as II can easily
drown a man or woman in Its own ele-
ment.
II knew of a distressing case of this
kind, which occurred In Southeastern Alas
ka. A native woman waded into the wat
er at low tide to capture sea urchins She
went out some distance and disappeared.
When search was made for her II was dis
covered that a devil fish had wrapped its
arm about and drowned her, pulling her
beneath the water. When found the mon
ster was feeding on her body"