Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-02-05
THAT THREATEN
GABLES IN OCEAN DEPTHS

Unexpected perils await submarine
cables, even in the depths of the ocean.
Though even the largest waves in
storm probably do not appreciably dis.
turb the water beyond the first 100
fathoms. IL indeed they go so far, cur
rents are sometimes strong enough to
fray the cable against some submarine
Crag, and various living creatures will
do II mischief. Among these fishes
have long been suspected, and now the
charge has been proved in a cable con-
Meeting Sydney with Nelson. \ defect
was detected, and on examining the
place n sharks tooth was found i'm
bedded in the sheathing. AS that CON
sisted of the usual thick iron wires
and their outer covering the aggressor
must have given hard bite. The
motive Is not easily OWNED. Could
the shark have mistaken the cable, in
the imperfect light, for a new species
of conger. or did it. which seems more
likely, blunder against 1t at a place
where It did not touch bottom. and re-
lieve its temper by vicious snap?
A swordfsh will express its resent
ment against vessel by driving the
bayonet at the end OF its nose into
the planks, and a narwhal will use
its lance Of ivory in similar fashion.
each. lige the shark. to its own detri,
ment, for 1t illustrates the maxim.
Cant you leave It alone?" by losing
the weapon of offense. The conflict
between shark and cable occurred $50
fathoms below the surface. a depth
which formerly was supposed to be al
most lifeless. But deep-sea dredging
during the last thirty or forty years
told a different story. In the open
ocean living creatures generally DO not
descend below a few hundred feet.
though they are often enormously
abundant in this upper layer-the
home OF countless fishes. mollusks.
crustacea, and in many places of
clouds of tiny foraminifera and radio
laria, with a corresponding abundance
OF seaweeds.
But living creatures follow the ocean
slopes downward to very great depths.
Sponges, at least certain kinds, go far
below the thousandfoot line. A by
drozoon two yards long was dredged
up by the Challenger from '2900 ia
thoms, and occasionally a coral or
some near relation may be found at as
great q depth. A well known species
of the former was brought up on a
telegraph cable from more than 400
fathoms. and DR.. Carpenter obtained a
mollusk, generally found in shallow
water, from not much less than $1,000
feet. Even at depths as low as Mount
Everest is high. living creatures have
been obtained, but they are compare
lively low in organization. Still,
fishes have been captured at the low
est depths, in which cases they arc
often blind. Even where they have
| eyes, those in that region of eternal
night would be useless, If they were
not able to turn on the light at will by
being provided with phosphorscent or
gans. II is, however, unusual to fint
n shark so deep as nearly couple o
thousand feet from the surface. Thei,
teeth have, indeed, been dredged NJ
from profound depths, imbedded In
nodules of manganese oxide, but these
have dropped from the jaws of fishes
which have lived and died in the upper
waters and settled quietly down to the
bottom.
Sharks in general keep near the sur
face, q habit which makes them such {
terror to bathers. Still. one kind o.
n shark. more nearly related to tn,
dog-hshes than to the dreaded blut
shark is brought up from depths great
or than those mentioned. The genus
which contains several species, 'has I
wide range. and spearlike teeth. one o
which may have done the mischief
on the Portuguese coast there Is regu
lar fishery for n species of this fish
which is about five feet long; II 4
caught with lines, at depths OF 400, an,
occasionally 500 fathoms. As it is &C
oustomed to live under pressure o
about eighty atmospheres, 1t is dead
practically suffocated-when brough
to the surface.-London Telegraph.