Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-08-19
HUNTING OCEAN VAMPIRES.
largest Of All Monsters Of the Deer
Sometimes Reverses the Role
and Becomes Hunter.

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With the possible exception of the
| basking shark, the Sea Devil" or
"Ocean Vampire" is the largest Of all
the monsters of the deep. An unborn
ocean vampire, taken from the mother.
preserved at the British museum, is five
feet broad, and before mounting weighed
20 pounds. The mother measured some
10 feet in length and quite as much In
breadth.
It is at all times a dangerous under
taking to attempt to capture n OF
these monsters, says the Sunday Maya
zine, but particularly so In the case OF
q mother accompanied by her offspring.
She is quite capable of reversing the role
Of hunter and hunted, attacking and
capsizing the boat contsSning her would
be captors, and of seeing that none of
them escapes alive.
Imagine writes Hon. William FL
hot, in describing the exciting sport he
had in hunting ocean vampires, "a mon
ster from 16 to 20 feet across the back,
full three feet in depth, possessed OF
powerful yet flexible flaps or wings with
which he drives himself f~uriously in the
water or vaults high in the air. through
which he skins like some enormous
bird; his feelers Commonly called
horns) projecting several feet beyond
his mouth, and padding all the small
fry that constitute his food into that
c~apacious receptacle-and you will have
an idea. though an imperfect one OF this
extraordinary fish"
The ~so-called horns" to which al
fusion is made are a singular feature In
this animal. The pectoral or breast fms.
much elongated. pointed, arched In
front, concave behind. stop short at the
head, to reappear as frontal appendages
projected on each side of the head.
These appendages take the form and
character of limbs, being flexible and
capable of grasping prey and carrying
1t to the mouth. The "feelers," as they
are called, are sometimes three feet or
more in length, and are %curfously artic-
nlated at the ends so as to resemble the
fingers of the human hand when
cIenched.
In this way fishing boats and vessels
of a much larger size have been dragged
from their moorings, and in some cases
capsized by the ocean vampires having
laid hold of the anchor. An instance of
this kind occurred in the harbor of
Charleston. A schooner lying at an
Choir, suddenly and seemingly of its own
vowlition, to the amazement and alarm
of those on board, started at a furious
rate across the harbor. Upon nearing
the opposite shore its course changed
90 abruptly as almost to capsize the ves-
sci, and 1t recrossed the harbor to its
former moorings,
These mysterious flights across the
harbor were repeated a number :. t.l-ss
in the presence OF hundreds of aeton-
Ilshed spectators, who we're utterly at q
loss to account for the phenomenon.
The m~igrations ceased as suddenly as
they began. Not till then did the back
and undulating iukes of an immense
ocean vampire, appearing above the wa
ter of the harbor. disclose the motive
power that caused it NIL.
One OF the curious habits Of the fish is
TO throw somersaults, sometimes at q
considerable distance beneath The sur
face, sometimes at the surface, and
sometimes in the air above the surface.
The reason for this peculiar practice,
which is kept up for hours. has, so far
as the writer knows, never been COM
tectured. At times the great Ash will
throw himself bodily perhaps as much
as ten or twelve feet into the afr. A
young man student of Columbia untver-
Inty, writing from Port of Spain. de-
scribes the flight of mi of these enc
nous sea monsters, which passed COM
pletely over him and the light boat he
was rowing.