THE MYTHOLOGY OF FISHES
=The Mermaid.=--A word may be said of the fishes which have no
existence in fact and yet appear in popular literature or in
superstition.
The mermaid, half woman and half fish, has been one of the most
tenacious among these, and the manufacture of their dried bodies from
the head, shoulders, and ribs of a monkey sealed to the body of a fish
has long been a profitable industry in the Orient. The sea-lion, the
dugong, and other marine mammals have been mistaken for mermaids, for
their faces seen at a distance and their movements at rest are not
inhuman, and their limbs and movements in the water are fish-like.
In China, small mermaids are very often made and sold to the curious.
The head and torso of a monkey are fastened ingeniously to the body
and tail of a fish. It is said that Linnæus was once forced to leave
a town in Holland for questioning the genuineness of one of these
mermaids, the property of some high official. These monsters are still
manufactured for the "curio-trade."
=The Monkfish.=--Many strange fishes were described in the Middle Ages,
the interest usually centering in some supposed relation of their
appearance with the affairs of men. Some of these find their way into
Rondelet's excellent book, "Histoire Entière des Poissons," in 1558.
Two of these with the accompanying plate of one we here reproduce.
Other myths less interesting grew out of careless, misprinted, or
confused accounts on the part of naturalists and travelers.
"In our times in Norway a sea-monster has been taken after a great
storm, to which all that saw it at once gave the name of monk; for it
had a man's face, rude and ungracious, the head shorn and smooth. On
the shoulders, like the cloak of a monk, were two long fins instead
of arms, and the end of the body was finished by a long tail. The
picture I present was given me by the very illustrious lady, Margaret
de Valois, Queen of Navarre, who received it from a gentleman who gave
a similar one to the emperor, Charles V., then in Spain. This gentleman
said that he had seen the monster as the portrait shows it in Norway,
thrown by the waves and tempests on the beach at a place called Dieze,
near the town called Denelopoch. I have seen a similar picture at Rome
not differing in mien. Among the sea-beasts, Pliny mentions a sea-mare
and a Triton as among the creatures not imaginary. Pausanias also
mentions a Triton."
[Illustration: FIG. 234.--"_Le monstre marin an habit de Moine._"
(After Rondelet.)]
Rondelet further says:
=The Bishop-fish.=--"I have seen a portrait of another sea-monster at
Rome, whither it had been sent with letters that affirmed for certain
that in 1531 one had seen this monster in a bishop's garb, as here
portrayed, in Poland. Carried to the king of that country, it made
certain signs that it had a great desire to return to the sea. Being
taken thither it threw itself instantly into the water."
[Illustration: FIG. 235.--"_Le monstre marin en habit d'Évêque._"
(After Rondelet.)]
=The Sea-serpent.=--A myth of especial persistency is that of the
sea-serpent. Most of the stories of this creature are seaman's yarns,
sometimes based on a fragment of wreck, a long strip of kelp, the power
of suggestion or the incitement of alcohol. But certain of these tales
relate to real fishes. The sea-serpent with an uprearing red mane like
that of a horse is the oarfish (_Regalecus_), a long, slender, fragile
fish compressed like a ribbon and reaching a length of 25 feet. We here
present a photograph of an oarfish (_Regalecus russelli_) stranded
on the California coast at Newport in Orange County, California. A
figure of a European species (_Regalecus glesne_) is also given showing
the fish in its uninjured condition. Another reputed sea-serpent
is the frilled shark (_Chlamydoselachus angineus_), which has been
occasionally noticed by seamen. The struggles of the great killer
(_Orca orca_) with the whales it attacks and destroys has also given
rise to stories of the whale struggling in the embrace of some huge
sea-monster. This description is correct, but the mammal is a monster
itself, a relative of the whale and not a reptile.
[Illustration: FIG. 236.--Oarfish, _Regalecus russelli_, on the beach
at Newport, Orange Co., Cal. (Photograph by C. P. Remsberg.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 237.--Glesnæs Oarfish, _Regalecus glesne_ Ascanius.
Newcastle, England. (After Day.)]
It is often hard to account for some of the stories of the sea-serpent.
A gentleman of unquestioned intelligence and sincerity lately described
to the writer a sea-serpent he had seen at short range, 100 feet long,
swimming at the surface, and with a head as large as a barrel. I do not
know what he saw, but I do know that memory sometimes plays strange
freaks.
Little venomous snakes with flattened tails (_Platyurus, Pelamis_) are
found in the salt bays in many tropical regions of the Pacific (Gulf
of California, Panama, East Indies, Japan), but these are not the
conventional sea-serpents.
Certain slender fishes, as the thread-eel (_Nemichthys_) and the
wolf-eel (_Anarrhichthys_), have been brought to naturalists as young
sea-serpents, but these of course are genuine fishes.
Whatever the nature of the sea-serpent may be, this much is certain,
that while many may be seen, none will ever be caught. The great
swimming reptiles of the sea vanished at the end of Mesozoic time, and
as living creatures will never be known of man.
As a record of the Mythology of Science, we may add the following
remarks of Rafinesque on the imaginary garpike (_Litholepis
adamantinus_), of which a specimen was painted for him by the wonderful
brush of Audubon:
"This fish may be reckoned the wonder of the Ohio. It is only found
as far up as the falls, and probably lives also in the Mississippi. I
have seen it, but only at a distance, and have been shown some of its
singular scales. Wonderful stories are related concerning this fish,
but I have principally relied upon the description and picture given
me by Mr. Audubon. Its length is from 4 to 10 feet. One was caught
which weighed 400 pounds. It lies sometimes asleep or motionless on
the surface of the water, and may be mistaken for a log or snag. It is
impossible to take it in any other way than with the seine or a very
strong hook; the prongs of the gig cannot pierce the scales, which are
as hard as flint, and even proof against lead balls! Its flesh is not
good to eat. It is a voracious fish. Its vulgar names are diamond-fish
(owing to its scales being cut like diamonds), devil-fish, jackfish,
garjack, etc. The snout is large, convex above, very obtuse, the eyes
small and black; nostrils small, round before the eyes; mouth beneath
the eyes, transversal with large angular teeth. Pectoral and abdominal
fins trapezoidal. Dorsal and anal fins equal, longitudinal, with many
rays. The whole body covered with large stone scales, lying in oblique
rows; they are conical, pentagonal pentædral, with equal sides, from
half an inch to one inch in diameter, brown at first but becoming the
color of turtle-shell when dry. They strike fire with steel and are
ball-proof!"
[Illustration: FIG. 238.--Thread-eel, _Nemichthys avocetta_ Jordan &
Gilbert. Puget Sound.]