The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1901-02-08
MONSTER DEVILFISH.
EXCITING EXPERIENCES WITH THESE
CLAMMY SEA BRUTES.


| One Octopus Whose Tentacles Were
Twenty-Five Feet In Length and
Another Shiny Creature Which
Measured FOrty-four Feet.
On the coasts of Cornwall the largest
forms are readily caught on the fisher
mans hook. and an Objectionable COM
partnership is sometimes the result. This
was the case a few years ago near Me-
vagissey. On a dark autumn night, in
small boat, Samuel Kelly was fishing
on the high rocks off the Griffin head
land when one OF these devilfish took his
bait and with the usual effort was hauled
on board. But his difficulty was to get
the hook to continue his work, for he had
been successful in catching several pol
lock and conger, and the moment he
touched the brute some of its clammy
tentacles would embrace his arm, hold
ing him to the spot, for its other arms
were fastened around the thwart.
Soon the beast became so violent that It
really made him fear it. He made a su-
preme effort to get his hook, but the
creature fastened its largest suckers on
the back of his right hand, and in the
battle he had to drop his line and with
the nails of his left hand to dig the suck
ers out of his flesh, for they seemed to
bury themselves there. After this ex-
perience there was no more doubt or in
decision in the fight, for seizing a sharp
knife he quickly cut the hook from its
hold. upon which the cutie crept away to
another part of the boat.
But this did not finish Mr.. Kelly's
night work. for on again throwing out
his line he had a still heavier haul, and
when it came to the water line he could
not get it an inch farther. although he
used oil his strength. for the line was new
and stronger than he could break.
In this dilemma he had to hold on tight
and on looking over the side by the aid
Of a Pickering light he found himself
glaring into the eyes of another devilfish,
and much larger one than the first. He
further found that the creature had TAX
en- the boat for its enemy and was at
lacking it with all its force. its tentacles
embracing the stern on the one hand and
running forward to near the middle sec
ton on the other.
On thinking over his recent troubles
with its neighbor and the waste of time
likely to ensue in a still longer encounter
with stronger brute he decided not to
risk another fight, but to use the advan-
tage Of its violent onslaught on the boat
Taking his knife and watching his oppor-
tunity, he finally cut the hook out of the
intruder, which, on being liberated, soon
dropped out of sight.
The next day / verified most of Mr..
Kelly's statements. The arms of the
dead octopus In the boat stretched over
seven feet. and on the back of Mr.. KEEL
ly's hands was a very black, round
bruise about half an inch in diameter,
corresponding with the inner circle of
one of the largest suckers of the dead &C.
topus. Since then he has caught several
Of these cuttles and one whose arms
stretched over Ga feet.
In our waters none Of these head foot
ed mollusks has been known to take hu-
man life, bu it is scarcely questionable,
II favorable opportunities presented them
selves, that they would do so. In 1879
one Of the attendants of the Scarborough
aquarium was attacked by only small
octopus when cleaning out a tank. The
experience might have ended fatally had
he been In the sea with q food tide. As
1t was he had to make his exit, leaving
his boot (by which the creature held him
fast behind him.
But there have been occasions in other
seas when the worst has happened, and
men have been caught in the Shiny folds
of gigantic cuttles, which have held them
on dragged them to destruction. Sir
Grenville Temple tells us how a Sardin-
ian captain, while bathing at Jerbeh,
was seized and drowned by an octopus.
his limbs being bound by the arms of the
animal. although only in four feet of
water, while Captain j. NJ. Dens, a
French navigator of repute, states that
when off the coasts Of Africa three of
his men were scraping the sides of his
ship on a fine day when they were at
tackled by one of these violent creatures,
which drew two of them away under wa
ter in spite of every effort made to save
them, while the third, who was rescued,
died during the night. In the fight one
of the creatures arms was cut off, rs
feet in length, with suckers on it as large
as pot lids.
Should there still remain a particle of
doubt in any mind respecting the exist
ence of gigantic cuttles this will be dis
PEELED by the following fact recorded by
the Rev. NJ. Harvey of St. Johns, N. F.:
On Oct. 26. 1873. two fishermen were
out in a boat near the eastern end Of
Conception bay. Observing a floating
object on the water, they rowed toward
it and struck it, on which 1t Immediately
shot out two vast tentacles around the
boat, as il wrestling with an antagonist.
Fortunately they had Ratchet on board,
with which they cut them from the crea-
ture. which, after blackening the sea
with its ink, soon made off.
One Of these magnificent fragments
was measured by Alexander Murray, ge-
ologist. and Professor Verrill of Yale col
lege, who found it to be II feet long and
31a feet in circumference. This frag-
ment is now preserved in st. Johns col
lege, Newfoundland. Since then scien-
lists have further considered the subject
and concluded that this beast with its
tentacles could not have been less than a.
feet long.
Reverting to the British octopus, may
further state that its mimicry is very
great. The colors it uses run through
deep chocolate. dull red. brown and gray,
and it has the power of so arranging
these hues that in the shade and cover Of
the dark rocks it is almost unseen by
any eye, which facilitates its easily wor-
rying a stranger, bouncing upon its food
or hiding from its enemies. Its change
from one color to another Is almost in
ytantaneous, and the body can be notified
with the whole of these tints just as
Quickly.-Contemporar Review.