Vashon Island news-record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1919-1954, 1923-08-31
OCTOPUS is SHY,
NOT MAN-KILLER
Sliced TentacIes Of "DevlIflsh,"
Caught Like Flies in Trap,
Table DeIicaCy.

San Francisco better
known as "polypus octopus bongkong-
ensis" are being caught at Santa Cruz,
Cal, like files in trap, and the ten
tReles are being shipped to fish mar
kets In San Francisco, New York and
other cities, where they are sliced and
sold at from 80 to 60 cents pound,
according to O. b. Florence, secretary
OF the California state fish exchange
here
Mr.. Florence says the sliced octopus
tentacle makes succulent table deli
cacy when properly fried.
While fishermen emulate Victor
Hugo and other writer's Of fiction by
telling of terrific battles with giant
devlltish, usually ending by explaining
how the fish reached one Of Its eight
arms above the water and wrapped It
around the boat, breaking the craft In
two, Mr.. Florence and Prof. Harold
Heath department of zoology, Stan
ford university, California, state that
this is physically impossible. Pro-
fessor Heath describes the octopus as
being "of shy and retiring dlsposi-
tion."
The devilfish has no bones or no
structure of any kind" says Mr.. Flor
ence. ut cannot swim, but can only
float on the water, or propel Itself on
the floor of the ocean by means of fas-
tenlng its suckers on rock and pull
Ing itself along.
Don't Brighten Fishermen.
Each of the eight tentacles is COW
cred with cup-shaped suckers, and
these form vacuum when fastened
on an object. Fishermen haul them
out of the traps with their bare hands
ana throw them in boxes in manner
that is extremely undlgnified to a fish
that has an age-old fictional reputation
OF being man killer and boat
smasher"
In the picturesque food shops that
line the narrow streets of San Fran
clsco's colorful. Chinatown, the ten
tacles of the devilfish may be seen
hanging from hooks alongside many
other edibles that are strange to the
native American. On the floors of the
wholesale fish houses here the devil
fish may be seen stacked in jellylike
heaps, with tentacles, in some cases,
extending ten feet across, five feet
from each side of the small, egg-shaped
head.
The traps at Santa Cruz, where the
majority of the devilfish are caught on
the Pacific coast, are built like fly
traps, only much larger. The traps are
made of wire, with cone shaped en-
trance for the octopus to squeeze
through in order to reach the bait.
Changes Color In Moment.
Instead Of being a fighter, the devil
fish protects itself from attack by
changing Its color and hiding from Its
enemy, according to Professor Heath
He says:
ITO agility and naturally acute
senses should be added their surpris
ing ability to change their color to har.
monize with that of their surround
ings, so that prey and enemies alike
are usually unaware of their prox.
unity. This color change is based upon
minute elastic sacs filed with pigment
and supplied with muscles for causing
their expansion.
"As devilfish crawls about on the
sea bottom Its color can be seen to
change In a twinkling from deep choco-
late through dull red and to gray. If
sand or rock is encountered on the
journey the skin is usually thrown
into Jumps and ridges, so that under
all conditions the body Is practically
invisible"
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