El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-08-02

depths doubtless accounts for the fact
| that all of the fishes, without exception,
so far as known, are black They are
mostly very fierce and highly carniv-
OrOus, with great jaws and Iancelike
teeth. Some of them are almost all
head, with Jaws six or seven times as
/ long as the skull proper, and so ar
ranged, like those Of a snake, as to en-
able them % swallow other fishes sew
eral times as big as themselves. For
example, the "black swallOwer," as it
has been appropriately named, is chief
" mouth, and spends its time buried
in the oOze, waiting for a victim to
come along.
The notion used to be that there was
no life in the ocean beyond a depth OF
100 fathoms or So But now il is
known that there is life at all depths,
although there is much less of it in the
intermediate marine strata, so to speak,
than at the surface and on or near the
bottom mere seems to be IN the sea
a series of aqueous life zones, each with
its, own groups of animals.
Some Are Blind.
Some of the fishes of the depths are
blind, but others have enormous eyes
The cephaloped known as the giant
Squid possesses eyes much larger than
those Of any other known animal, meas
urlng as much as 4 foot in diameter.
But, unfortunately, the natural history
OF the marine abysses is likely to re-
main very imperfectly known, mas
struct appliances suitable for the cap
ture of creatures miles beneath the
surface of the water, many of which,
besides being of great size, are too
swift and wary to be taken by slow
moving nets. The best apparatus thus
far devised for the purpose is a huge
net set in an iron frame on runners.
which is dragged along the bottom, but
TINS catches only the slow and small
sized animals.
The ocean, roughly speaking, consists
Of 9612 percent of fresh water and 8 y
percent of mineral salts Three-fourths
of these salts is chloride of sodium
common table salt), and the next larg-
est constituent is chloride of magne-
SUM After these, in terms of relative
quantity, come sulphate of magnesium
sulphate of lime, sulphate of potash
bromide Of magnesium and carbonate
Of lime. Also there are in sea water
minute amounts of iodine, phosphorus 1
arsenic, and a number of metals, incIud-
ing gold, silver and copper
Prof. Frank Clark (the highest Iiv-
ing authority says that the salt in all
the oceans would make 100000 cubes
each one mile on an edge. If spread
over the whole United States, it would
form a layer one and six-tenths mile
high.
Are Cold Water Fish.
In the neighborhood of the Poles
the COOLED surface water, owing to
It's greater weight, sinks to the bot
tom, ana spreads slowly over the floor
OF the ocean into equatorial ATTITUDES.
Ihus 1t IS that even in the summer
the water of the depths never rises
above 40 degrees Fahrenheit At the
equator, Prof Agassiz found the tenn
perature three degrees above freez-
ing at a depth of three miles, and
the contents of trawl when brought /
TO the surface actually frOze the hands.
such, in fact, are the conditions under !
winch the sea serpent may be SUD-
posed to exist Its home is a region |
OF liquid blackness and icy cold The /
represented by species of animals of I
which for the most part we have no /
knowledge. Once in a while if comes 1
to the surface of the sea, and mariners
or other Voyagers get glympse of it !
PernapS some day a dead specimen NAV
be found floating. If so. it will afford /
the most interesting contribution to /
natural history Up to date and will !
solve much vexed problem.
Southern Sea serpents.
Along the coast Of our own southern !
states, especially in Alabama. are found |
today immense quantities of the bones /
OF creature known as the Zeuelo- /
don, which, although a mammal. must /
nave resembled a gigantic serpent as |
II swan at the surface of the sea With I
q mead like an alligatOr's and A sharD
snout it was enormously long The
supposluon is that it is extinct, but
there IS no certainty that it NAV NOT
still survive in relatively small num-
oers- Ferocious and predatory. with J
huge teeth, it must have ruled the
waters in its day. Quite possibly If
had a name of long hair. which is a /
characteristic attr1buta of the modern I
sea serpent, and the appearance of an
occasional specimen might easily meet !
al the requirements of the case where |
sea eSrpent stories are concerned