PROPELLER IN A FISH

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 307, 21 September 1908, Page 7

PROPELLER IN A FISH

partially Disabled. (by TELEGBArH—rBEBS ASSOCIATION—COPTEIGHT.) Sydney, September 19. Tho steamer Piona, 817 tons, twin screws, while off Bird Island, struck a hugo sunfish, weighing two tons. One propeller became''embedded in the fish, and could not bo froed. Tho vessel came into Sydney partially disabled. THE SUNFISH. The name sunfish is applied to a number of different kinds of fish. The one referred- to in this case is probably the mola, which is described as "a large clumsy fish of extraordinary shape, .which varies much with age, inhabiting most tropical and temperato seas, and attaining a weight of 7001b. or 8001b." 'i'ho tonnage mentioned in tlie cablegram may bo liable to discount, or perhaps this particular mola was a marine giant. The accident inav bo accounted for by the fish's clumsiness,' also 1)7 the fact that m calm bright weather it rests or plays on the surface, with a dorsal fin high above the water, a habit which gives ri«e to the popular name of sunfish. It is, however believed that during stormy seasons the mola Jives at some depth. I'ho clumsiness may ariso from the extraordinary shape," for tho moia lias the appearance of being a tailless fish and is sometimes known as tho "hoadfish" "The body," ' says one writer, "ends behind so abruptly that it seems as if cut off." Another writer describes this anatomical peculiarity as nn " extreme shortening of the tail. . . . The head is completely merged in the trunk.'"' The mouth is small. "Sunfishes aro truly pelagic propagating their species in the open sea, and' only occasionally approach the coast."