The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-06-09

If the worlds development,
hundreds of thousands of years before
man appeared on earth, who took refuge
in the black. cold depths Of the sea and
now liHger there still, while nearly all
other living things have changed. CarniV-
orous. ferocious, formed OF tissues that
explode on exposure to the air, gifted
with abnormal eyes or totally blind, they
seem like nightmare creations.
The latest knowledge we possess con-
corning the strange monsters taken out
of the depths Of the Pacific, is largely the
work Of DR.. Hugh NJ. Smith, Director OF
the Bureua Of Fisheries, Washington. One
of the most remarkable is the trap mouth
fish. which appears to have borrowed most
Of its characteristics from the huge land
snakes It inhabits depths extending from
500 feet downward in the Pacific. Its
head is nearly as long as its body The
mouth is cavernous, very elastic, forming
a trap into which its prey may enter vol
unfairly and unsuspiciously or be seized
when near Its front teeth are long, with
large hinges, like hooks, capable Of being
swung back and forth like a crane. Be
hind these are lateral teeth. When the
prey is seized by the front teeth, the
crane swings and the victim is passed
backward to the back teeth and drawn
into the stomach, the process Of swallow
ing being similar to that Of land serpents.
The laws and head are so elastic. that
prey much larger than the fish can readily
be swallowed. Doubtless, also, this appa-
ratus, because Of the hinges, may enable
the fish to reverse the process and throw
out any object which it desires to be rid
o.
In the roof Of the mouth is what CORE
spends almost exactly to an electric light
hrr1h "a of Oh oil
through the wide spaces between the
long front teeth, so that the monster can
see perfectly his prey and direct his ac-
ton accordingly. This bright light also
acts as a lure, like the lantern of light
house to birds on a dark night drawing
them to destruction.
The camera eye fish, found at $500
feet depth, is well named, since no known
eye so nearly resembles a camera. The
eye is equipped with lens and refectors,
not to take photographs with, but to enable
the monster to peer into the darkest depths
and search out prey, which is much magni-
fed by this apparatus. The eye is large,
taking up much space in the short head
which is inclined upward and outward, with
a prominent forehead in front of it. In fact,
the eye is so prominent the monster must
content himself with small prey, as there is
not room for the large jaws, long teeth and
elastic mouth which would be needed fer
swallowing creatures larger than himself
Most surprising were the forms of some
of the sharks taken at great depths. They
differ greatly from the man eaters we
know. OF these the "pentanchid shark" is
so remarkable that scientists have called it
a living fossil. Had it been taken from
the archaic rocks in petri6ed form, it might
have been passed merely as a type of very
primitive monster. Here we have a fish
that has survived most of the commissions
and changes Of the earth during the ages.
Professor H. F. Osborn estimates that the
oceans have been 100000 900 years in form
ing. and that to give them their present
quota of salts, they have received 63,00O,-
900 tons Of sodium annually, borne to them
by the rivers of the earth.
We must imagine this sharks ancestors,
then, as beginning their existence in nearly
fresh water His descendants survived
somehow as their element became more
and more salty, until to-day he is enabled
TO endure the conditions Of modern. seas.
In proof Of its archaic type is the fact that
it is the only known shark, living or ex-
tinct, with only five branchial openings, or
gills. Its haunts range a half mile below
the surface It's body is long and slender,
with a straight tail long, fat snout erect
teeth in both jaws, very powerful for snap
ping prey. The mouth extends almost en-
tirely across the under side, capable Of de-
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