LIKE A CUCUMBER

Evening Star, Issue 21641, 9 February 1934, Page 9

LIKE A CUCUMBER

FISH SPINS ITS OWN NET Cuthbert, the Ferocious Cucumber, arrived in London last mouth from Madeira, and has taken up residence all by himself in one thousand gallons of water. Of all the many acquisitions of the Zoo Aquarium during the past year he is probably the most interesting, and officials are keeping a watchful eye on him. For Cuthbert’s habits and his temper leave much to be desired. I found him, wrote a correspondent of the ‘ Morning Post,’ sleeping solemnly on a rock, while round his unconscious dirigible body the waters of the carefullv-heated tank fizzled cheerfully. The keeper standing guard pointed out his beauties. “ We’ve had only one of them before,” he said, “ and that was two years ago. He looked peaceful enough, too, but we didn’t know his habits then. “ You see, when the first one arrived we left him to spend the night in a comfortable tank with a fish for company. Quite a nice-sized fish it was, too, and friendly. Well, the next morning there was the sea cucumber sitting sunning itself near the top of the tank, just like this one here, and the fish was at the bottom dead and wrapped round and round in what looked like a spider’s web. “ That’s why Cuthbert is all alone in there and looking pathetic.” These sea cucumbers are very rare, and this is only the third that the Zoo has had over a long period of years. Their habit of catching fish by entangling them in long threads, which they threw off from their body after the manner of a spider, makes them specially interesting. But they seem difficult to keep in captivity, and .the latest arrived is receiving careful attention.