The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-10-27
DANGERS TO OCEAN CABLES.
They Must Resist Attacks of Many
Submarine Monsters.
Q.ondOn Ielegrapn.1

rrnaxnected nerils await submarine
cables. even in the depths OF the ocean.
Though the largest waves IN a STORM
probably do not appreciahly disturb
the water beyond the first 100 falnolhs,
If indeed they go SO far, currents are ,
sometimes strong enough 10 nay shs
cable against some submarine cras' anu
various living creatures VIII 90 II
mischief. Among them nshes ha.vs
long been suspected, and now tne
charge has been proved IN capie On
Meeting Sydney with Nelson. ueiSC'
was detected and on examining ahe
niece a sharks tooth was found I'M
bedded in the sheathing. AS that con-
sisted of the usual thick iron wires ana
their outer covering. the aggressor
must have given hard bite Ine mo-
tive is not easily OWNED. Could the
shark have mistaken the cable, IN the
imperfect light, for new species Oh
conger. or did il, which seems more
likely. blunder against it at place
where il did not touch bottom, ana
relieve its temper by vicious snap!
A swordhsh will express its resent
ment against a vessel by driving the
bayonet at the end OF its nose INTO lle
planks, and a narwhal VIII use It's lance
OF ivory in similar fashion; eacn, IKE
the shark, To its own detrlment' Tor u
illustrates the maxim. Cant you leave
il aloneg" by losing the weapon OF Of
tense. The conflict between shark ana
cable occurred $50 fathoms below the
surface, a depth which formerly was
supposed to be almost iifetess. But
deep-sea dredging during the last thir-
ty or forty years told a different story.
In the open ocean living creatures gem
orally do not descend below d few
hundred feet, though they are often
enormously abundant In this upper lay
/ er-the home OF countless fishes mol
| lusks, crustacea, and. in many places,
OF clouds of tiny foraminifera and IA
dioIaria, with a corresponding abund-
ance OF seaweeds.
| But living creatures follow the ocean
slopes downward 10 very great depths
| Sponges, at least certain kinds, go far
| below the 1.O00-fathom line. A hydro
Zoon two yards long was dredged up
/ by the Challenger 1000 fathoms, and
! occasionally a coral or some near re-
lation may be found at as great depth.
A well known specifies of the former
was brought up on a telegraph cable
from more than LOO fathoms, and DIR.
| Carpenter obtained a mollusk, gener-
ally found in shallow water, from not
much less than 600 feet. Even at
| depths as low as Mount Everest IS
high, living creatures have been OBJ
tained, but they are comparatively low
in organization. Still, fishes have been
captured at the lowest depths, in which
cases they are 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 al
win by being provided with phospores-
cent organs. 1t is, however, unusual
To find a shark so deep as nearly 200C
feet from the surface. Their teeth
have, indeed, been dredged up from
profound depths, imbedded in nodules
of manganese oxide, but these have
dropped from the jaws of fishes which
HAYS lived aud di<d in the upper water:
and Settled quietly down 10 the bot
tom.
Sharks IN general keep near to tbs
surface, a habit which makes then
such a terror TO bathers. Still. one
kind of a shark, more nearly related Il
the dog fishes than to the dreaded blu'
shark. is brought up from depths
greater than those mentioned. Tit
genus, which contains several species
has a wide range, and spearlike teeth
one of which may have done the mis-
chief on the Portuguese coast Their
is regular fishery for species OF thi
fish, which is about five feet long; il i
caught with lines at depths of 400, ant
occasionally 500, fathoms. As ii is &C
| customed to live under a pressure o
about eighty atmospheres, 1t is dead
practically uffocated-When brought +
the surface.