Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1913-03-14
VETERAN TELLS OF THE con
Fish Will Eat Anything That Comes
Its Way, He Says-Takes on Bat-
fast During Storm.


Its Way, He Says-Takes on Bat-
fast During Storm.
Through the good work OF the gov
eminent fish hatchery at Boothbay
Harbor. Me-. the cod industry, along
the Maine coast is improving each
year. Although 1t was feared few
years ago that the cod were fast being
exterminated, fishermen now report
that they are multiplying and that
prices are better than ever.
Cod eggs are collected along the
Maine coast by the little steamer Gan
nett, owned by the government and
commanded by Capt. George Green
leaf Often the steamer collects from
1000, 900 to 100000 eggs at time
and then carries them to the hatchery,
where they are scientifically treat
ed. When the fry are large enough
to look out for themselves they are
liberated
The government haa spent thou
sands OF dollars upon the local station
and has succeeded in interesting the
fishermen in the work. The fishermen
Invariably set aside spawning cod to
await the arrival of the steamer Gan
nett, which frequently visits the fish
ing grounds. Probably no man In
the country is more familiar with the
haunts and characteristics of the
Goldfish than Captain Greenieaf, who
says:
why, bless your life, son, the cod
is one Of the ugliest fish afioat He
isn't naturally savage like the dogfish,
but he is easily miffed and is always
ready to act N self-defense IL he thinks
himself In danger.
Say. perhaps you won't believe il,
but It's true az gospel, Goldfish will
tackle anything when he feels like il.
They'll eat anything. too. Ever hear
OF cod eating a coot for dinner?
Well, It's a fact they'll do 1t when they
get chance and I've known them to
eat whole Holsters without waiting to
have the shells picked of.
But started to tell you about
that cod that swalio we'd the coot. One
day we got seed cod aboard the
Gannett. Itcwas one of the biggest
ever saw and weighed about 75
pounds. NJ men expected a big haul
but not many spawns were scraped
from 1t and we were all surprised. So
the men decided to cut the fish open
and when they did this out dropped a
sea coot from the inside.
The bird was a beauty, and wasn't
injured a bit It wasn't mussed and
hadn't been chewed up at all. show
ing that 1t was swallowed without any
apparent effort"
How do you account for the coot
coming in the way of the big fish ?"
We'll. don't really know, but sup
pose that bird was flying over the
water and possibly might have stop
ped to stick his head down under
when the cod suddenly saw him
and with one gulp swallowed him"
Then Captain Greenleaf related
stories of finding Holsters inside
some of the big Goldfish taken to the
hatchery.
That's nothing new" remarked the
captain, but was surprised one
day when we pulled out a lobster
nine inches long. We have often
found little ones only four or I've
inches long.
you can't get ahead of a Goldfish
much. They'll take care of themselves
under any circumstances. Just think
of a fish taking on ballast so he can
better control himself to meet the
elements.
He goes to the bottom. swallows
several good sized stones to give him
weight anu then he is ready to take
care Of himself in the big seas. How
do know this? Why, man alive, we've
cut open hundreds OF them with rocks
in their stomachs. but this never hap
pens except after severe storm. We
never find them before the storm and
so this just bears out my claim that
they take on ballast so they can ham
die themselves better"