Charlevoix county herald., 1920-01-30
HUNTING Lair
OF SEA SERPENT
Scientists Search Leads to Dis
eovery Of Many Strange
Monsters OF Deep.
BIG SEA LIZARD EXTINCT
There Are Still Sharks to Be Found,
However, Forty Feet Long-oan-
Qerous Marine Creatures
Not the Largest.


New York.-Imaginative sea cap
tains and their followers on return
ing to local ports entertain their
friends and unsophisticated strangers
with highly colored narratives of great
sea serpents and other unfamiliar
monsters of the deep that they have
encountered on their voyages. That
monsters of the deep exist today as
in olden times is well known to sci
ence, but they are quite different from
those described by the old salts.
''The sea serpent" said DR.. John T.
Nichols head of the department Of
recent fishes at the American Mu-
scum of Natural History, "as that
creature Is pictured In the popular
mind is purely mythical animal.
Although there are doubtless many
strange beasts In the sea, as yet un-
known to science, 1t Is highly i'm
probable that such a monster will be
found"
Big Sea Lizards.
The nearest approach perhaps to.
this monster that ever existed was
some Of the big sea lizards which used
to navigate the globe In prehistoric
times. The most authentic reports
of sea serpents nowadays when trace
able at all turn out to be faulty OBJ
servations Of some ordinary marine
creatures. A school of porpoises
stretched out In line and rolling their
backs above the surface in unison,
may readily enough appear like the
coils of a great sea monster to an OBJ
server with an active imagination.
Nevertheless, true sea snakes swim
among the islands Of certain parts of
the western Pacific which, though they
do not reach a great size, are often
very poisonous. They have fiattened
tails like muskrats to enable them to
swim the better.
There are plenty Of monsters In the
sea, though none equal in size the
largest of the whalebone whales. The
largest of such creatures are some
thing like 80 feet In length. II there
are larger specimens they have been
remarkably successful in eluding ac-
eurate measurement. In order to find
sufficient food such gigantic creatures
must be content with a humble diet.
Hence they have developed their
whalebone-a substance in which no
imitation can compete in the manufac-
ture of high-grade whip handles and
corset stays-for the purpose Of strain
ing an abundance Of small fishes or
other ANIMALS from the sea water
Inhabiting the deep are two gigan-
tic sharks, either one of which may
reach length Of 40 feet. The bask-
ing shark Is found in northern seas,
occasionally straying southwark to our
coasts, and the whale shark seems to
have its principal habitat In the In
dian ocean, though stragglers have
turned up as far away as the shores
Of Florida. Que such, mounted, is on
exhibition at Miami and will repay
visit to any one who chances to be In
that vicinity.
Plenty Of Sea Monsters
There are plenty of m 1nsters in the
sea, the giant devil fish, or manta,
which probably grows to be over 20
feet between the tips Of Its great
wings. The model of an individual of
Is feet or so is on exhibition at the
American museum. The manta has
hornlike processes directed forward,
one at either side of its broad head,
and there are Northumberland in
stances Of devil fish flying" through
the water, catching a boats anchor
between its horns by chance, lifting
the anchor and towing the astonished
boatmen' out TO sea. At certain sea-
sons the devil fish is common along
the Gulf coast Of Florida, where II fur
nishes exciting sport for big-game fish
ermen.
The dangerous marine creatures are
In general not the largest The killer
whale, which is 20 feet or so I'm
length, will attack and devour almost
anything that swims In the sea. Some
times they join In schools and hunt
the big whalebone whales like a pack
Of hungry wolves. The man-eater
shark, seldom more than 20 feet long,
is one of the fercest Of sea creatures.
He is as rare as he is dangerous. The
big sperm whale seems to feed large
ly on large specimens Of octupus, for
which II dives in deep water. Some
observers assert that they have seen
spectacular contests between such a
sperm whale and an octopus which IL
had brought to the surface.
The octopus also goes by the name
Of devil fish, though 1t is an entirely
different animal from the manta.