of both the old and the new Worlds. It has been known to attack a man
when its retreat has been cut off; to bite the legs of bathers, and to
snap at the fingers of persons cooling their hands in the water; and
when pressed with hunger, to fight an otter for the possession of a
carp, which the latter had caught. Its strength and endurance have often
been demonstrated in the destruction of strong tackle and in its power
to survive, without apparent inconvenience, with hooks and wires
mingling with its anatomy. Captain Brown gives an instance of a pike
being caught, which had a strong piece of twisted wire projecting from
its side. It was in excellent condition, and on being opened, discovered
in its stomach a double eel hook, much corroded, and attached to the
protruding wire. Another pike when caught, in the river Ouse, was found
in possession of a watch with a black ribbon and seals attached;
property which it was afterwards discovered had belonged to a
gentleman's servant who had been drowned. The pike has often been caught
with portions of tackle broken from the line in former engagements
hanging from the mouth. Its rapacity is extraordinary. Eight-hundred
gudgeon are said to have been consumed in three weeks by eight pike of
not more than five pounds weight each. "The appetite of one of my pike,"
says Mr. Jesse, "was almost insatiable. One morning I threw to him one
after the other, five roach, each about four inches in length. He
swallowed four of them, and kept the fifth in his mouth for about a
quarter of an hour, when it also disappeared." The pike attains to large
proportions and to a great age. When less than two pounds weight, it is
called a jack, but it has been known to attain to sixty or seventy
pounds weight, and if all records be true, to more than a hundred years
of age. Gesner mentions a pike caught in standing water at Heilbroon,
in Suabia in 1497 which had a ring round its head with an inscription in
Greek which ran somewhat as follows; I am the first fish that was
launched into this pond, and was thrown in by Frederick the Second,
emperor of the Romans, on the fifth of October, 1230." If this be true,
the pike was two hundred and fifty-seven years old at the time of its
capture, when it is said to have weighed three hundred and fifty pounds.
The Herring.
Probably no living thing of its size is equal to the herring in its
value to man. It visits the northern coasts of England and Scotland in
vast shoals, of several miles in extent, in the autumn of the year,
heralded by seagulls and followed by dog-fish, both of whom take toll as
it proceeds. The annual produce of these little fish is beyond all
calculation. The Scotch fisheries are credited with the capture of over
four hundred millions a year, while those of Norway can scarcely be much
less successful. The Swedish fisheries are said to capture nearly double
that number, to which must be added those taken by the English, Irish,
Dutch, French, and German fisheries before the grand total can be
reached. The enormous number of hands employed in these various
fisheries, to say nothing of the capital invested in them, marks them
out as one of the most important of European enterprises.
The Flying Fish.
The Flying fish is about the size of a herring, and is furnished with
strong pectoral fins, almost the length of its body, by which it is able
to spring out of the water and sustain itself for a time in the air. It
has apparently no power of guiding itself, or of varying its altitude
while in the lighter element, both the height and the course of its
flight being determined by the direction and the force of its spring.
Its ordinary flight is about three feet above the surface of the water,
and of no very great distance or duration, but it has been known to fly
as high as fourteen or fifteen feet, and even higher, and a distance of
over two hundred yards. Flying fish often fall upon the decks of ships,
where they are welcomed as affording a pleasant variety to the sailors'
menu. They frequent warmer latitudes, but are sometimes seen off the
English coast. They leave the sea to escape the larger fish which prey
upon them, only too often to fall a prey to the fowls of the air.
The Eel.
The Eel from its general resemblance to the snake is not usually a
favourite when alive, however popular it may be with the palate, when
served up with suitable accessories at table. It is, however, full of
interest as a study, and shows many remarkable characteristics and
traits. It migrates from the river to the sea in the autumn to produce
its young, thus reversing the order of procedure of the salmon. Mr.
Jesse, writing of these migrations as observed by him in the Thames many
years ago, says, "An annual migration of young eels takes place in the
river Thames in the month of May, and they have generally made their
appearance at Kingston, in their way upwards, about the second week in
that month. These young eels are about two inches in length, and they
make their approach in one regular and undeviating column of about five
inches in breadth, and as thick together as it is possible for them to
be. As the procession generally lasts two or three days, and as they
appear to move at the rate of nearly two miles and a half an hour, some
idea may be formed of their enormous number. Sir Humphrey Davy says, in
his "Salmonia,"--"There are two migrations of eels, one _from_ and the
other _to_ the sea; the first in spring and summer, and the second in
autumn, or early in winter. The first of very small eels, which are
sometimes not more than two and a half inches long; the second of large
eels, which sometimes are three or four feet long, and weigh from
fifteen to twenty pounds. There is great reason to believe, that all
eels found in fresh water are the results of the first migration; they
appear in millions in April and May, and sometimes continue to rise as
late as July, and the beginning of August. They feed, grow, and fatten
in fresh water. In small rivers, they are seldom very large; but, in
large deep lakes, they become as thick as a man's arm, or even leg; and
all those of a considerable size attempt to return to the sea in October
or November, probably when they experience the cold of the first
autumnal rains." Mr. St. John thus describes some young Eels which he
saw ascending the river Findhorn "When they came to a fall, which they
could not possibly ascend, they wriggled out of the water, and gliding
along the rock, close to the edge, where the stone was constantly wet
from the splashing and spray of the fall, they made their way up till
they got above the difficulty, and then again slipping into the water,
continued their course." The eel is voracious, and will leave the water
in search of frogs, and other food. It will attack, and appropriate,
young ducks, and one is said to have been caught near Bootle with two
rats in its stomach. The Conger Eel grows to a great size and attains
great weight. It is said sometimes to measure eight or even ten feet,
and to weigh a hundred pounds or even more. It is plentiful in the
English Channel, and on the coast of Cornwall.
The Gymnotus.
The Gymnotus is the famous electric eel, and like the Torpedo of the
English Channel and the Mediterranean, has the power of communicating a
violent electric shock. It belongs to the Amazon and other South
American rivers and their tributaries, and is well known to American
Indians. Humbolt describes the shock produced by this creature, as
exceeding in strength that of a large Leyden jar. Having imprudently
placed his foot on one just taken from the water he received such a
shock that, he says, "I was affected the rest of the day with violent
pains in the knees, and in almost every joint."
Catching the Gymnotus.
The following vivid description of a Gymnotus hunt is given by Humbolt:
"We at first wished to make our experiments in the house we inhabited at
Calabozo; but the dread of the electrical shocks of the gymnoti is so
exaggerated among the vulgar, that during three days we could not obtain
one, thought they are easily caught, and though we had promised the
Indians two piastres for every strong and vigorous fish.
"Impatient of waiting, and having obtained very uncertain results from
an electrical eel that had been brought to us alive, but much enfeebled,
we repaired to the Cano de Bera, to make our experiments in the open
air, on the borders of the water itself. We set off on the 19th of March
for the village of Rastro de Abaxo, thence we were conducted to a
stream, which, in the time of drought, forms a basin of muddy water,
surrounded by fine trees. To catch the gymnoti with nets is very
difficult, on account of the extreme agility of the fish, which bury
themselves in the mud like serpents. We would not employ the _barbasco_,
that is to say, the roots of Piscidea erithryna and Jacquinia
armillaris, which, when thrown into the pool, intoxicate or benumb these
animals. These means would have enfeebled the gymnoti; the Indians
therefore told us, that they would 'fish with horses.' We found it
difficult to form an idea of this extraordinary manner of fishing; but
we soon saw our guides return from the Savannah, which they had been
scouring for wild horses and mules. They brought about thirty with them,
which they forced to enter the pool.
"The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs makes the fish
issue from the mud, and excites them to combat. These yellowish and
livid eels resemble large aquatic serpents, swim on the surface of the
water, and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A contest
between animals of so different an organization furnishes a very
striking spectacle. The Indians, provided with harpoons and long slender
reeds, surround the pool closely; and some climb upon the trees, the
branches of which extend horizontally over the surface of the water. By
their wild cries, and the length of their reeds, they prevent the
horses from running away and reaching the bank of the pool. The eels,
stunned by the noise, defend themselves by the repeated discharge of
their electric batteries. During a long time they seem to prove
victorious. Several horses sink beneath the violence of the invisible
strokes which they receive from all sides, in organs the most essential
to life; and stunned by the force and frequency of the shocks, disappear
under the water. Others, panting, with their mane standing erect, and
wild looks, expressing anguish, raise themselves and endeavour to flee
from the storms by which they are overtaken. They are driven back by the
Indians into the middle of the water; but a small number succeeds in
eluding the active vigilance of the fishermen. These regain the shore,
stumbling at every step, and stretch themselves on the sand, exhausted
with fatigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electric shock of the
gymnoti.
"In less than five minutes two horses were drowned. The eel, being five
feet long, and pressing itself against the belly of the horses, makes a
discharge along the whole extent of its electric organs. It attacks at
once the heart, the intestines, and the _plexus cæliacus_ of the
abdominal nerves. It is natural, that the effect felt by the horses
should be more powerful than that produced upon men by the touch of the
same fish at any one of his extremities. The horses are probably not
killed, but only stunned. They are drowned from the impossibility of
rising from amid the prolonged struggle between the other horses and the
eels.
"We had little doubt, that the fishing would terminate by killing
successively all the animals engaged; but by degrees the impetuosity of
this unequal combat diminished, and the wearied gymnoti dispersed. They
require a long rest, and abundant nourishment, to repair what they have
lost of galvanic force. The mules and horses appear less frightened;
their manes are no longer bristled, and their eyes express less dread.
The Indians assured us, that when the horses are made to run two days
successively into the same pool, none are killed the second day. The
gymnoti approach timidly the edge of the marsh, when they are taken by
means of small harpoons fastened to long cords. When the cords are very
dry, the Indians feel no shock in raising the fish into the air. In a
few minutes we observed five eels, the greater part of which were but
slightly wounded. Some were taken by the same means towards the evening.
"The temperature of the water in which the gymnoti habitually live is
about 86 degrees of Fahrenheit. Their electric force, it is said,
diminishes in colder waters. The gymnotus is the largest of electrical
fishes. I measured some that were from four feet to five feet three
inches long; and the Indians assert, that they have seen them still
larger. We found that a fish of three feet ten inches long weighed
twelve pounds. The transverse diameter of the body was three inches five
lines. The gymnoti of _Cano de Bera_ are of a fine olive-green colour.
The under part of the head is yellow, mingled with red. Two rows of
small yellow spots are placed symmetrically along the back, from the
head to the end of the tail. Every spot contains an excretory aperture.
In consequence the skin of the animal is constantly covered with a
mucous matter, which, as Volta has proved, conducts electricity twenty
or thirty times better than pure water. It is somewhat remarkable, that
no electrical fish yet discovered in the different parts of the world,
is covered with scales.
"It would be rashness to expose ourselves to the first shocks of a very
large and strongly irritated gymnotus. If by chance you receive a stroke
before the fish is wounded, or wearied by a long pursuit, the pain and
numbness are so violent, that it is impossible to describe the nature of
the feeling they excite. I do not remember having ever received from the
discharge of a large Leyden jar, a more dreadful shock than that which I
experienced by imprudently placing both my feet on a gymnotus just
taken out of the water."
The Torpedo.
It would be difficult to name two fish more dissimilar in outward
appearance than the Gymnotus and the Torpedo, and yet they enjoy in
common the unique power of communicating electric shocks. The Gymnotus
is a long eel-like fish, the Torpedo is round and flat. The Torpedo
belongs to the family of the Rays and sometimes reaches a large size. It
is common in the Mediterranean and is sometimes found on the southern
coasts of the British Isles.
"Although it has once or twice been caught on our coasts," says Mr.
Wood, "it is usually found in the Mediterranean, where its powers are
well known, and held in some awe. The shock that the Torpedo gives, of
course, varies according to the size of the fish and its state of
health, but a tolerably large fish in good health can, for the time,
disable a strong man. From the effects of its shock, it is in some parts
called the Cramp-fish. It has been known to weigh from seventy to a
hundred pounds.
The Shark.
The Shark, whose name instinctively suggests a shudder, is the largest
of the fishes and one of the largest of marine animals. There are many
varieties, and they are found in all seas; some measuring no more than a
few feet, others attaining to very large proportions. The Blue Shark of
the Mediterranean which measures about eleven feet sometimes approaches
the south coast of England and Ireland, as does the Hammer-headed Shark
of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean a shark of twelve feet in length.
The Tope, a smaller variety, is often seen in the English channel, as
are also several others of the smaller Sharks. The Great Basking Shark
which often measures thirty feet in the length is the largest of those
which visit the English coast, but like the largest of all the sharks
(_Rhinodon Typicus_), which sometimes exceeds fifty feet in length, is
herbivorous, and therefore not bloodthirsty.
The White Shark.
The Shark known to sailors as the White Shark is a fierce and sanguinary
creature. It frequents the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea,
where it follows ships for days for the sake of the refuse, which is
thrown overboard. This creature has been known to swallow a man entire,
and commonly to devour one in two or three portions. Sailors get no
mercy from the shark, and consequently show him none. There is a story
told of a negro cook who seeing a shark follow in the wake of a ship
made a brick hot in the stove, and then threw it to the monster who
probably never had a warmer or more indigestible meal. This shark
suffered great agony if its contortions may be taken as evidence, and,
after exhausting itself with its fury, allowed itself to drift away with
the tide. Expert swimmers, armed with long sharp knives have sometimes
engaged the shark single-handed, diving underneath it, and stabbing it
before it discovered their whereabouts. The Negroes of the West Indies
are credited with this hardihood, and are said to be frequently
successful.
Sharks in the South Seas.
"The amphibious South Sea Islanders," says Mr. Wood, "stand in great
dread of the Shark, and with good reason, for not a year elapses without
several victims falling to the rapacity of this terrific animal. Nearly
thirty of the natives of the Society Islands were destroyed at one time
by the sharks. A storm had so injured the canoe in which they were
passing from one island to another, that they were forced to take refuge
on a raft hastily formed of the fragments of their canoe. Their weight
sunk the raft a foot or two below the surface of the water, and,
dreadful to say, the sharks surrounded them and dragged them off the
raft one by one, until the lightened raft rose above the water and
preserved the few survivors." Mrs. Bowdich who was an eye-witness of the
tragic circumstances she describes, says:--"Sharks abounded at Cape
Boast, and one day, as I stood at a window commanding a view of the
sea, I saw some of the inhabitants of the town bathing, and the sharks
hastening to seize upon them,--they being visible from always swimming
with part of their dorsal fin out of water. I sent to warn the men of
their danger, and all came ashore except one, who laughed at the caution
of his companions. A huge shark was rapidly approaching, and I sent my
servant again, and this time armed with half a bottle of rum, to bribe
the man to save himself. It was too late, the murderous creature had
seized him, and the water around was dyed with his blood. A canoe was
dispatched to bring him ashore, but a wave threw him on to the beach;
and it was found that the shark had taken the thigh bone completely out
of the socket. The man, of course, expired in a very few minutes.
Accidents were often happening, and always fatal, and yet the negroes,
who seldom think beyond the present moment, could not be dissuaded from
bathing. A man walking in the sea, up to knees, was dragged away by one,
almost before my eyes."
The Rays.
The Rays are large flat fish of which there are numerous species, the
Thornback and the Common Skate being the best known. They have large
pectoral fins, and some species grow to an enormous size. The Skate has
been known to measure six or seven feet. Other species are the Homelyn
Ray and the Sandy Ray which like the Thornback and the Skate are found
in British waters. The Sting Ray and the Eagle Ray cover wider areas and
grow to a gigantic size in tropic seas. It is a large species of the
Eagle Ray that is known as the Sea Devil of the tropics. These fish,
though very large, display no great antipathy to man, though from their
enormous size and strength they are a source of danger to small craft.
Mr. Swinburne Ward in a letter to Colonel Playfair, quoted in Dr.
Percival Wright's "Concise Natural History", thus describes the capture
of one of these monsters off the Seychelles.
"Coming home we passed close to an enormous 'diable-de-mer' floating
quietly about. We changed from the pirogue to the Whale-boat, which I
had scientifically fitted up for the _gros poissons_, and went alongside
of him, driving a regular whale harpoon right through his body. The way
he towed the water was beautiful, but we would not give him an inch of
line and he also had to succumb to a rather protracted lancing. His size
will give you an idea of his strength in the water--forty-two feet in
circumference! We got him awash on the beach, but the united strength of
ten men could not get him an inch further, so we were obliged to leave
him there. By this time the sharks will not have left much of him; they
have not had such a meal as that for a long time. The fishermen say that
when alive the sharks do not molest the 'diable-de-mer', whose offensive
weapons consist of those enormous flexible sides (one can hardly call
them fins) with which they can beat almost any shark to death. As a rule
when harpooned, they endeavour, like other rays, to bury themselves in
the sand, and if they succeed in doing this, no line can ever haul them
out of it--their flat bodies act on the principle of an enormous sucker.
Another curious fact about them is that when harpooned they swim
sideways, edge on, in order to avoid exposing too broad a surface to
their enemy. They never do this unless harpooned."
Ray Catching.
Lieutenant Lament gave the following graphic description of a Ray
fishing expedition in which he took part near Port Royal, Jamaica, in
1824, to Professor Jameson.
"The first appearance of an animal of this species, since I have been
here, (about eighteen months,) was about two months ago, when I was
called out to the beach by some of the inhabitants, whom I found, on
going there, to be assembled in great numbers, to see what they called
the _Sea Devil_. I confess my curiosity was not less excited than
theirs, when I saw floating close to the surface of the water, about
twenty yards from me, a large mass of living substance of a dark
colour, but of the shape and size of which I could not, at the time,
form any proper idea, it being so very different from what I had ever
before seen or heard of, farther than that I supposed it to have been
many times the size of what I now believe it was. No time was lost in
setting out in pursuit of him, with harpoons, &c.; and it was not long
before he was come up with, and struck with one of the harpoons, when he
made off with great velocity, towing the boat after him. As he seemed to
incline chiefly to the surface of the water, six or seven more harpoons
were (with the assistance of several canoes that had come up)
successively plunged into him, and all the boats made fast to each
other, which he was obliged to pull after him, with several people in
each. Such, however, was the great strength of the animal, that, after
being fast in the manner I have described, for upwards of four hours,
and taking the boats out to sea attached to him to a distance of about
ten miles from the harbour, and having been pierced with so many wounds,
he was still able to defy every effort to bring him in. It had now got
late, and was dark, and an attempt was made to force him up near enough
to get another large harpoon into him, this was no sooner done, than he
darted off; and by an almost unaccountable and seemingly convulsive
effort, in a moment broke loose from all fetters, carrying away with him
eight or ten harpoons and pikes, and leaving every one staring at his
neighbour in speechless astonishment, confounded at the power of the
animal which could thus snatch himself from them at a time when they
conceived him almost completely in their power.