Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-04-20
MARINE BAD CHARACTERS.
Some Fish That Are Dangerous to
Bathers and Fishermen.

Bathers and Fishermen.
The idea Of fish constituting danger
to human life or limb would hardly
occur to the angler who has never cast
net or line in tropical waters, yet there
are several instances on record of
bathers being attacked by pike, and
an old writer, Crull, tells Of a giant
pike inside which was found the body
Of an infant. Not long ago good sized
retriever which was swimming In the
Thames just above Chitty's boat house
at Richmond was tackled by pike,
which bit one Of his hind legs so badly
as to sever an artery.
1t was another Thames pike which
attacked that well known naturalist
and fisherman, Mr.. Cholmondeley-
Pennell. He had actually landed the
fish when 1t sprang from the ground
and fixed all its sharp teeth into his
leg just above the knee. The creature
hung so fiercely to its hold that a stick
had to be used to pry its jaws apart.
The other British fish which can be
truly called dangerous is the conger
eel. The experienced sea fisherman
takes care to kill every large conger
as soon as It Is brought into the boat.
The conger has extraordinary jaw
power. It can triturate shellfish, shells
and all.
Ugly and savage brute as the conger
Is, 1t Is a lamb compared with its rela-
tive, the green moray Of Bermudian
waters. This great eel Is of an unnat-
urally brilliant green and has an eye
which is the very epitome of intense
and malignant ferocity. It Is vora-
vious and savage beyond words. Ne
gro boatmen have such holy horror
of 1t that they absolutely refuse to
allow moray into the boat.
An acquaintance of the writer, a
marine officer, fishing in a small boat
off Bermuda hooked one Of these fish,
but as soon as his boatman saw the
hideous head above the water he whip
ped out his knife and made to cut the
line. The officer shouted to him to stop
but had to threaten to throw the man
overheard before he would put up his
knife. When the great eel was pulled
over the side the negro was absolute
ly ashen with fright. AS for the mo-
ray, no sooner was 1t In the boat than
1t doubled upon itself and its jaws
met with a clash in its own side, cut
ting out a chunk of white flesh as
neatly as a scoop would cut cheese.
That was enough for the officer. He
picked up a boathook and forked the
uncanny creature overheard.
The fish that has thoroughly bad
name In West Indian waters and all
along the shores Of the Mexican gulf
Is the barracuda. Certainly the bar
racouta is an unpleasant looking GUS
TONER He is long and narrow, shap-
ed like torpedo, blue black above and
gray below, and he can swim at most
amazing speed. Where he lives he is
known as the devil fish, a name COM
mon to all marine bad characters. The
negroes have a perfect horror of the
barracuda, which they aver will at
tack bathers and infict upon them a
mutilation impossible to describe.
Another so-called devil fish which Is
common on American coasts from 80
deg. north latitude to about the same
degree south of the line is the giant
ray. This fish looks very like skate,
but grows to an enormous size. It lies
on the sea bottom, covering many
square yards of coral sand, and II
attacked may prove not only nasty but
most dangerous. 1t is said to use its
mouth like shark but its most un-
pleasant weapon is the toothed spear
in its tail. Fishermen aver that 1t is
able to drive this Jagged lance right
through mans thigh. Such a wound
Is extremely poisonous and almost in
variably fatal.-Chambers Journal.