The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-05-20
GREATEST OF MARINE GIANTS.
One Monster Whale Measured 95 Feet
in Length and 50 Feet in Girth.


bic, and while in ages past nearly all
divisions of the animal Kingdom boast
ed giants of greater size than those
of modern times, yet often nowadays
gigantic creatures exist in numbers in
the sea.
The greatest of these marine giants
areA the whales. And probably the
largest of the whales, as we'll as the
most gigantic of all living creatures, is
the sulphur bottom. 1t attains length
of nearly or quite 100 feet and a weight
of $50 tons.
One individual measured 95 feet in
length, 80 feet in girth, with a jaw
bone 21 feet long; baleen (whalebone).
feet long; weight Of baleen, 500
pounds; weight of entire whale, 147
tons, and it yielded 10 barrels of oil.
The sulphur bottom seldom bolts, as
the whalers term the action of leaping
diagonnaly from the sea, or breaches,
as perpendicular springs are called,
but when it does perform in this man
ner he presents a truly wonderful
sight.
While whales are the largest of ma
rine animals, yet certain fish grow to
almost as gigantic size The largest OF
true fishes are found among the sharks
and the largest of these formidable
fishes are the whale sharks. These
huge fish occur in the waters of India,
japan, South America, Panama, Cali
fornia and the West Indies.
The nose is very broad and blunt and
the mouth, although very wide, is arm
ed only with very minute teeth. 1t IS
a dark-colored creature, marked with
small, whitish spots and is perfectly
harmless to man, feeding exclusively
on small fish. It's huge bulk makes it
dangerous when wounded This great
fish reaches a maximum length of 70
feet.
Probably the second largest shark IS
the basking shark, known also as ele-
phant shark and bone shark. This
species derives it's name from its habit
of collecting in schools or basking in
the sun at the surface of the sea. 1t
reaches length of 40 to so feet, and
while large is perfectly harmless.
It's teeth are small and numerous
and it's food consists of small fishes,
shrimp, crustacans, etc. 1t is ordinar-
lily of a gentle and quiet disposition,
but if wounded or injured can readily
hacked with knives and pierced with
its powerful tail. 1t was formerly
widely hunted for it's oil, but has be-
come too scarce to hunt with much
success.
The man-eating sharks, which are so
greatly dreaded by many people and
are so very common in tropical seas,
grow immense size, and with their
ferocious character and powerful
jaws and teeth are probably the most
formidable Of ocean giants.
The great sleeper shark is most
stupid gluttonous species-as,in fact
are most of the sharks-and spends
most of it's time doing on the surface
of the sea. When aroused or hungry
it attacks whales, porpoises or, in fact,
anything it can find, and bites pieces
from it's victims with its knife-like
teeth.
At such times it seems perfectly OBJ
livious to pain or fright and can be
backed with knives and pierced with
spears without paying the least atten-
ton or seeming to take any notice
This savage creature reaches a length
of 36 to 40 feet and is fully as large
and even more formidable than are the
true man-eating sharks.
Related to the sharks are the old
saw fishes of the tropics, which are
common in the lagoons, bayous and
sounds of the West Indies and our
southern coast. These fish grow to a
length of 20 to 25 feet and as they are
of no real value they are never dshed
or hunted to any extent.
In fact the fishermen dread these
creatures, for they often become en-
tangled in their nets and rip and tear
them to pieces by lateral jerks and
sweeps of the huge saw on the nose.
This ''saw" is bony elongation of the
nose and is armed on either side with
large, sharp, strong teeth, and in the
L