The Giant Fishes of the Sea.
Many people, including some scientists, believe that there exist in the sea to-day monster animals—sea-serpents, leviathans, and giant fishes—which have never been captured, and hence are unknown to zoölogists and have no place in scientific books, Whatever may be the facts in regard to such creatures, there are well-known members of the fish class which deserve to be regarded as monsters, and which may have given rise to the sea-serpent stories. Some of the most noteworthy of these fishes are here referred to and illustrated.
A Man-eater shark in the wake of a vessel.
(It is about forty feet tong when full-grown.) At the mention of giant fishes, many young folk will at once think of the sharks, among which, indeed, are found the largest existing fishes. Of the numerous kinds of sharks noteworthy on
account of their size, there are four in the front rank; these are the sleeper-shark, the man-eater shark, the basking-shark, and the whale-shark.
The sleeper-shark, whose scientific name (Somniosus microcephatus, meaning sleepy small-headed fish) fits it so admirably, appears to have developed its body at the expense of its brain, for it is a sluggish, stupid glutton, about six times as long as the average man. Its home is in the Arctic regions, but it sometimes makes visits as far south as Massachusetts, Oregon, and the British Isles. It is usually seen lying quietly at the surface, apparently dozing, and is easily approached by vessels; but sometimes, when hungry, it rouses itself and goes in search of its prey, fiercely attacking and injuring whales, apparently unconscious of the great difference in their respective sizes.
One of the largest, and perhaps the most formidable, of sharks is the “man-eater,” or great blue shark (Carcharodon carcharias). It roams through all temperate and tropical seas, and is everywhere dreaded. Its maximum length is forty feet, and its teeth are three inches long. While there are few authentic records of sharks attacking human beings, there have undoubtedly been many cases of sharks simply swallowing people who have fallen overboard, just as they would swallow any other food. How easy it would be for a man-eater to devour a person, may be judged from the finding of a whole hundred-pound sea-lion in the stomach of a thirty-foot shark on the California coast. A certain man-eater, thirty-six and a half feet long, had jaws twenty inches wide inside, and teeth two and a half inches long.
The basking-shark, known also as the elephant-shark and bone-shark (Cetorhinus maximus), is an inhabitant of the polar seas, but is occasionally observed as far south as Virginia and California, and some years ago was not rare72
