Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1899-09-29
NEW ANIMAL LIFE.
QUEER ANIMALS FOUND AS THE ne.
SUIT OF DEEP SEA EXPLORATIONS.

QUEER ANIMALS FOUND AS THE ne.
SUIT OF DEEP SEA EXPLORATIONS.
The Way In Which These Strange
Forms of Marine Life Are Drawn
From the Seas Bottom In a Trar
for the Purpose.
Among the special circumstances
created by the statical and dynamical
conditions Of the deep sea, organic life
presents Itself under aspects which ap.
pear strange to those who are accus-
toned to Its appearance near the sur.
face. / endsavored to obtain from ell
the levels Of the sea as many samples
Of the species belonging to them as ii
was possible, but I had to find other
apparatus than the old trawl used for
former scientific cruises, which can
only get animals fixed on the bottom
of the sea, or hiding In the mud, or
possessing very slow means of progress
sing. OF course, l have used it great
deal, because no other instrument can
collect for us certain fauna; but when
1t occurred TO me that there must be in
the deep waters some nimble animals
able to escape such net as q trawl,
l first built trap of special shape and
very large, in order to attract these
supposed animals, when rightly baited.
The trap is lowered TO the bottom
with q steel cable, and hauled up again
after having been left there for day
or two attached to buoy. The hand
ling OF this was very difficult in the be-
ginning, and required several years of
practice to be brought up to definite
rules, but 1t has given most brilliant
results, animals quite unknown COM
ing into my hands perfectly we'll pre-
served against shocks, frictions and
other causes of damage to which they
would be liable in trawl. One inter
esting fact they have shown is the
enormous numbers in which some ami
mails exist in certain places.
AS an example, 1 obtained one day
In trap that had been lying on the
bottom at 700 fathoms depth for "a
hours, 1898 fish. called Simenchelys
parasiticus, which was only known by
one or two samples in a more or less
imperfect state. | have succeeded in
sending these traps as low as 5000
fathoms with complete success On
another occasion my trap brought up
new crab, one of the largest ever
known, Geryon affinis. and there were
ID specimens of 1t. Curiously enough,
several of them, which had not yet
found the entrance of the trap when it
was hauled up, made the whole voyage
of many hundreds of fathoms clinging
voluntarily to the outside of the trap.
Lately l have obtained a certain
number Of large animals living in
these intermediate depths, and belong
ing to the very interesting group OF
cephalods, by examining the stomachs
OF several cetaceans who feed upon
them. Since the discovery of this in
teresting fact | added to the scientific
gear of my vessel a complete whaling
arrangement. This new method has
given to me the most remarkable ami
mails OF the whole collections; one es-
pecially, the Lepidoteuthis Grimaldi,
can be classified in no actually known
species. genus, or even family of his
order. 1t was vomited in 1895. during
the dying struggles of a sperm whale,
but had, unfortunately, lost it's head
by the last adventures of its life. The
fragment is about yard in length,
and the complete animal must have
been over seven feet; adding the arms,
we get monster of colossal strength
Its most remarkable feature is a
cuirass of large prominent scales
which cover its visceral bag; these are
quite unknown with animals of that
order. The vomitings of the same
Gperm whale, who covered two acres of
the sea with his blood, contained an
other immense cephalopod, a Cuciotu-
this with arms as strong as a mans.
and carrying suckers armed with claws
rs powerful as those of tiger; this ami
pal is furnished with luminous organs.
In 1897 another large cetacean that |
was attacking with my whaleboats
yomited large fragment of a cepha-
lopod which was peculiar in being of
viscid substance not unlike glycerine;
no net could retain il. and we only
secured 1t by dipping it up with
large tub as we'll as the mass of water
In which 1t was floating But it will
be convenient to remind the reader
that cetaceans divide themselves into
two separate groups. One class, to
which belongs the right whale or other
marine mammals chased by whalers.
feed upon very small animals that they
absorb simply by moving about with
their mouths open. They have no
teeth, but a sort Of sieve made of what
is called whalebune.
Another group, to which belongs the
sperm whale, Is armed with powerful
teeth, a single one Weighing some
times as much as six pounds. They
live upon big prey, mostly cephalopods.
as aforesaid. These cetaceans are
ferocious. while the others have
puch milder temper, and some of
them, as the "Orca Gladiator" can
be very dangerous to attack. Two
years ago 1 chased school OF three of
these, Just off the Monaco Rock, and
very soon one was struck by my whal-
er's harpoon.
While it was ending with violent
struggles. the two others came along
side the whaleboat and seemed will
Ing to fight for their companion. They
swan around and around, sometimes
so close that the men touched their
enormous backs with their hands.
had to release at once that boat. and
for an hour we were seventeen men
and three boats) engaged in a most
grand wrestling. The result was that
second cirque was killed by a spar
stroke.
If we sight some wrec0age-as a log
or a barrel-we always find under il
or near 1t fishes of good size and of
different species that never seem to
abandon this guide that they have