The times., 1899-07-10
THE CAPTIVE SEA SERPENT.
A Monster of the Deep Called n Green
Moray, on Exhibition.

Monster of the Deep Called n Green
Moray, on Exhibition.
| New York, July 9.-The green moray.
recently arrived at the Aquarium from
! visitors, including some who were pas
sengers by the steamer which it was
| brought. They had been interested in 1t
i on shipboard, and desired to see its new
| quarters. The great eel began to eat on
! the day of its arrival. and is now eating
| daily about a pound and half of Goldfish,
| which is cut up into strips and handed
| down to it on the end of stick. 1t takes
| this daily supply at a single meal and
| appears to like it. The moray has i'm
proved in appearance and condition since
, its arrival.
! This specimen of the green moray is
| about seven. feet in length and not less
! than two feet in circumference at the
largest part OF its body. Its dorsal fin ex-
tends the whole length of its body. from
| the head to the tail, and when this is
raised it makes the big eel look still big
/ ger. This fin waves along its length with
sort of corkscrew motion when the moray
/ is moving. The green moray is a vora-
cious creature and very swift and pow
erful swimmer. 1t can oyertake practi-
cally any fish it starts in pursuit of. IF
| lut uSn ana seek refuge IN
some nook or crevice of the coral reefs,
| the moray might still start it out from
! there by means of its sharp pointed snout.
Though only seven feet in length. the
green moray has the appearance of a YER
| liable sea serpent, and il IS commonly
! spoken of such by visitors who look at
/ 1t. To many it seems more or less ia
miliar, perhaps so to the majority. from
its resemblance in general way to the
! rt,sc Of
| printed. The green moray's head has been
likened to that of a horse, and the re-
semblance may be heightened IL one
catches a glimpse of 1t from the rear.
| Then the dorsal fin. spreading back from
| the centre line of the arched neck. is the
crest or name, and 1t requires but little
stretch OF the imagination to see in the
gill openings the horses ears.
There are two or three low rocks in the
bottom Of the moray's tank, including one
| whose surface has slight incline toward
the front of the tank. The moray rests
it may be- about two feet of its tail on
the bottom of the tank 10 the rear of this
rock. The great cells body leafs forward
up over the rear edge OF the rock and
down across5the top of it to the front, a
foot or so, the slight incline giving 1t, per-
! haps, a better brace or hold. From the
front edge itsrears the forward half of its
body straight up in the water, with its
great head bending forward and, it may
be, downward at the upper end. This is
the sea serpent attitude. II in open water
one should see rising above the surface,
even to that extent, the mead and body
of such moray. even this one, with dis
tended name, or dorsal fin. almost any
length of body might be added TO it, In
fancy, under water. There have been seen
in tropical waters green morays at least
twelve feet in length. The green moI.is
varies in its attitudes, but whatever po-
sition it does take there is about it always
suggestion of great power
The green moray's manner of respiration
! is peculiar. Its head, somewhat blocklike
at the base. runs down almost to point
at the tip; its mouth is large; the gill
openings, well back on the head on either
side, are not nearly equal in size to the
capacity of the mouth. The moray opens
its jaws Wholesome of its teeth are seen
to hook inward like the shark sand takes
in a great mouthful of water. Its jaws
spread apart laterally at the base, indicat-
ing that it could take in a proportion
ately large object, and its jowls distend
and likewise its fiabby or loose throat or
under jaw, as it closes its mouth on all
the water Ii will hold. As the water thus
taken in is expelled through the gill open
ings the distended sides of the head and
the throat or under jaw gradually collapse
Then the green moray opens its mouth and
talks in another mouthful.
The green moray is in one of the large
wall tanks on the ground floor tier of the
Aquarium. salt water side. Almost ovel
1t, In tank on the gallery tier, there ar,
four spotted morays. including one brought
from Bermuda with the big green moray
the other three which include the bigges
of the lot, a spotted moray about two fee
and a half in length. came from Bermuda
!, last year The spotted morays breathe il
the same manner as the green moray
The spotted moray's head suggests tn,
head of a little fox.
This green moray has upon the righ
side of its head very curious marking
which at a casual glance might be taker
fer a sewed-up wound. 1t extends fol
some inches in a straight line from neal
the end of the snout, back toward the
base of the head with the appearance o
a uniform herringbone stitching. in reg
ular. zigzag lines, like the teeth of a saw
,, 1t was jocularly suggested that the biz
green moray might have cut cash in tn,
side of its head on some sharp projecting
I. piece of coral, and that some adept sur
geon- fish OF local waters had sewed up th
wound with the precision of stitch dis
played, but there is no scar or wounC
there. This herringbone stitch just run
along the side of the moray's head. just a
SO many tiny veins might do-a very sin
gular and interesting marking, but on
e | whose cause is not vet known,