The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-02-13
JEWELLERS IN THE SEA.
A Scientist Accounts for FishIike Char
aCteriSticS of the Whale


MaIine life will always have a fascin-
alton and attraction for lovers of the
sea. Whales. other monsters and fishes
large and small are studied by laymcn
and scientists with varying degrees of
interest
The whale is not a fish" said John
+. Nichols head of the department of
recent fishes at The Museum Of Natural
History, but a warm-bloodcd animal
more like a cow Therefore. one cannot
expect authentic information about
whales from a scientific department de
voted To- the study of fishes. As mat
ter of personal "Reminiscences | renem-
Der very distinctly the savaging of the
skeletons of two right whales captured
al the east end of Long Island some II
winters ago, Returning each evening
after hard days work on the beach. !
found myself strangely alone IN the
boarding house dining room, something
that was more understandable when |
returned to my clothes the next morning
after nights rest.
Although i'm no sense fish. whales
have lived in the water for such count
less generations that they have many
hSh-like characteristics. The great
fcrkcd tail, fin or flukcs of whale are
shaped like the tails OF such free swim
ming fish as mackerel The principal
difference is that fish always prGpel
themselves by moving the tail from side
To side, whereas whales move the tail
up and down. 1t follows, therefore
HAT the whales tail is in horizontal
| lnstcdd of a vertical plane
The great whulebone whales. the
| bulk of which exceeds that of any other
! living animal. have developed their re
markable Whalcbouc to sift small crpa,
lures upon which they feed from IL @
sea water. An exact parallel is to be
/ found in the largest sharks. the basking
f.E n,
shark of the Indian ocean. the teeth of
which are small and Of no account. but
/ the highly developed gillrakers of which
! form a fine mesh net for the capture of
small shrimp-like animals which abound
/ in the sea. These great sharks reach 4
/ length OF 10 feet or more and are eHor-
nous compared with anything but a
whale. ...
Somewhat less directly comparable
are fishes like the imenhaden which feed
in a similar manner. As they swim
| their mouths are held continually open.
Sitting the rich harvest Of the minute life
! frcm the water. and by taking advantage
1 of this generally inaccessible food sup
4 ply they become exceedingly fat and are
/ of much value in the production of fish
Tolls. Each individual menhaden is a
I fish Of small size but they swim in enor-
/ NOUS close ranked schools, and the eco
uonic problem involved in such a
similar to the one which a whale must
4 solve to sustain it, great bulk.
The whale shark. baSking shark. and
menhadeu have unqucstionably been de-
rived in the course of cvolutionS from
iprcGacious fishes which. like ordinary
sharks or trout. hunted comparatively
large prey. Herein the comparison he
tween them and Ihe whale holds true.
The whalchone whales have probably
developed from t0othed p0rpoiSe-lile
lsp,cic Cur modern porpoises are
closely related to whales-warm blooded
lanimals in no sense fish.
a word about the word dolphin. by
landamcn il Is used To designate one or
mere kinds of porpoiSc, but by deep
| water sailors the term is used only for a
true fish. The FISH dolphin grows 10 be
six feet or SO long. is swift. slender, and
very highly colorrd 1t frequents rho
trade-wind aud ether warm seas Of the
lw,rld. proving ou flying fish In fact
il seems ttt4ltr reasonable To suppose 1hat
the flying fish has evolved its remarkable
aerial powers specially To cludc this en-
euy Nevertheless the dolphin being
one Of the fa~tcst and most active fish
that SwiuiS. can sometimes follow tn,
! flying ti~ls course i'm the water below
and seize il when it falls back into it,
proper element.