The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-04-16
CHARACTERS
AMONG THE F|NNY
DEN|ZENs OF DEEP
Fish that Men Eat Also Eat
Human Beings When the
Opportunity Offers.

The idea of fish constituting a dan
ger to human life or limb would hard
ly 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 s a good
sized retriever which was swimming n
the Thames just, above Chitty's boat
house at Richmond was tackled by a
pike, which bit n 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-Pe n
nell. He had actually landed the fish
when it sprang from the ground and
fixed all its sharp teeth into his leg
just above the knee. The creature
hung so i~iercely 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 carr to, kill every large conger
as soon as 1t is brought into the BOAT.
The conser has aextraordinary jaw
power, 1t can triturate shellhsh, shells
and all.
Ugly and savage brute as the conger
is it is a lamb compared with it's 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. 1t is voracious
savage beyond words, Negro boat
men have such a holy horror of it that
they absolutely refuse to allow a 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, boatnlan saw the
hideous head above the water he
whipped 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 he side the negro went abb
solutely ashen with fright. AS for the
moray, no sooner was it in the boat
than it doubled upon itself and it's jaws
met with a clash in its own side, cut
ting out a chunk of white flesh as neat
ly as a scoop would cut cheese. That
was enough for the officer. He picked
up a boathook and forked the ouncanny
creature overheard.
The fish that has a thoroughly bad
name in West Indian waters and all
along the shores of the Mexican Gulf
is the barracuda. Certainly the barra-
couta is an unpleasant looking GUS
toner He is long and narrow, shaped
like a torpedo, blue black above and
gray below, M he "a swim at most
amazing speed. Where he lives ne Is
known as the devil FISH, a name COM
MOI TO all marine had characters. The
negroes have a perfect horror of the
barracuda, which they aver will attack
bathers and inflict upon them a mutila-
ton impossible to describe.
Another so-called devil fish which is
common on American coasts from 80
degrees, north latitude to about, the
same degree south of the line is the
giant ray. This fish looks very like a
skate, but grows to an size.
1t lies on the %seabottom. covering many
square yards of coral sand, and if at
tackled may prove not only nasty but
most dangerous. It Is said to use its
mouth like a shark. but it's most UNI
pleasant weapon is the toothed spear
in it's tail. Fishermen aver h a 1t is
able to drive this Jagged lance right
through a mans thigh. Such a wound
is extremely poisonous and almost in
variably fatal.-Chambers Journal.