Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-07-18
ODD PACIFIC FISH.
Peculiar Specimens Drift With
the Japanese Current.
SEA BAT Is A MONSTER.


five Feet Long and Weighed a Ton
and a HaIf-Moray and Ink Fish
Strange Creatures.
The waters of the Kuro Shiwo, oE
Japan current, that make warm the
shores of our southwestern coast, hold
many odd and peculiar forms of fish,
some of which are native to Japan,
such as the japanese albacore, the
ribbon fish and the Japanese sword
fish. These warm waters are grateful
to the fish, and vast numbers swarm
in them at times, and in them many
fish grow to great size.
At some of the islands and in the
Gulf of California, the great sea bat,
or ray is often caught One Of these
fish. captured after n hard fight, was
twenty five feet long, score of feet
wide, weighed over a ton and a half
and had wings over six feet long, says
the Los Angeles Times. The fish is so
huge that harpoons are used for it's
capture These are thrown into the
great mass of flesh and the ropes at
tached are fastened to floating barrels.
The sea elephant, which resembles
the land elephant in many ways, was
once common among the islands, but
seldom is one seen now One bull sea
elephant caught was twenty-four feet
long and weighed about three tons.
The male has a proboscis projecting
from his head which he uses in d
manner similar to that of the land ele.
plant. feeding himself, and even catch
ing wild birds with it.
Three strange fish are the remora,
the moray and the goose fish. The re-
mora has at the end of its anterior
dorsal fin sucker by which it at
taches itself to larger fish, ships, etc,
and is lowed along. The moray is an
eel much resembling snake, and
bites viciously when given an oppOr-
tunity. 1t is from four to six feet in
length. The goose fish attained its
name from its proclivity to devour
geese. 1t also catches and eats other
wild birds, and as many as seven
ducks have been taken from the StOm-
ach of one of these fish. They grow
to a length of about five feet and
weigh some fifty pounds.
The octopus and his relatives so by
many names-the devilfish, the cutie
| fish, the Squd, the ink fish, etc. They
are vicious looking fish that live
among the rocks of the sea bottom.
Here they are of great size, some of
them being over fifteen feet from tip
to tip of arms. The immense sunfiSh
! lies like a small island on the surface
of the sea and will allow boat to run
up alongside of it without appearing
to notice it.
Though the seals are few, sea lions
are numerous among the islands. AS
the orange cOlored, blue spotted gold
fish and the sardine of the tropics are
here found, it makes as strange an as
ISOLATION of the inhabitants Of the
warm tropical waters and those of the
cold arctic seas as can be found in the
world
The ribbon fish, which comes from
Japan, is a curious looking fish some
twenty feet long, with Il width of
but a foot. Swordfish are common
and reach a length of eight feet or so.
A species of this fish is called the
spearfish and it's sword Is somewhat
! shorter.
Several species of large sea turtlesi
may be seen at times floating on the
water of the channel. DOlphins are
sometimes seen and occasionally q
nautilus. The craytish is often called
the lobster, which it closely resem~'
bles, except that it has not the two
large front claws of the lobster The
abalone is found clinging to the rocks
of the islands below high tide. There
used to be great numbers of them, but
years of wholesale fishing has greatly,
reduced them. The shells, beautiful
when polished are made into various
ornaments, and the meat is dried and
sent mostly to China. The sea horse
and the starfish grow to considerable
size among the islands. Two curious
inhabitants of the island waters are
| the California sea cucumber and the
big frogfish. Acres Of jellyfish of
great size and of varying colors and
markings are frequently seen.