STRANGE CREATURES

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

STRANGE CREATURES

DENIZENS OE THE DEEB

(By

J.H.S.—Copyright).

The Shark. Of the mako, or shark (peeled, stri* ped), the mako taniwha (the devift shark) is the fiercest of all, and yet f still the most cowardly. In the trppicf the pearl shell diver’s only fear is tha the mako may sever the air tube; «vei an air bubble will scare him away. H is regarded as the, scavenger, thb eate of offal. Natives, eating fresh sharl develop a fever which causes the skil to. crack and peel. The od-orous dries r shark of which, they are very fond, ha? no such effect, but one ipay smell th# eater for a week. Maoris and other dark skinned islanders- seem -to be im* mune from their bites; but 'white swimi mers are a deadly bait. ; The English novelist who {clothed his shipwrecked ladies in black stockings for safety was a close observer. The ungarbed Bishop of New Guinea who “swam, be* side a tiger shark for an hour” surely had a charmed .life or a vivid imagination. New Zealand has already attracted the big game.-fishers of the world for record breaking mako. ‘’God liver’' oil and shark skin leather are qurj lab, est industries.

The Swordfish. ' The* paea (excoriated skin) is thej swordfish. The dream of the New Zealand ( angler is a six hundred pound swordfish, and the gourmet loves it for its. delicate flesh. Not only is it. the best sporting fish known, but whether fresh or preserved, the flesh is more highly , esteemed than that of an English salmon. * Thb elongated bone of the upper jaw, its sword, gives it a distinc-. tion above all other deep sea fishes. Tales of its power’to pierce an enemy, a victim, the side, of; a boat, or a ship, .were once -regarded. ,as “fish stories,’’ but a copper sheathed, oak plank in the British Museum is to be seen with no less than three .“swords.” embedded and broken off after penetrating ten inches? North American and Mediterrane.Y swordfish are smaller than ours. They areharpooned in thousands for food, and there authorities declare they cannot be caught on a line. With their terrific they are a danger to small craft, and canoes are said to have, been overturned by them. Zana Gray has made New Zealand swordfish famous, and each capture brings Newj Zealand about £5OO, The Flying Fish.

The maroro (“to be strong) is tho itanMi • for the flying I’fish, 1 ’fish, of which there • many varieties. Properly speaking ’it 1 is of tropical waters,, but is well knowmj i to the Maori canoeists of the north. Itj ■ enters into the rich, field of Maori holism in the form of one which says -“He' ■ toarora kokoti Hr* waka” in reference -bo ona who the path of a war oanoe, and in killed to ward off evil from the jwaiy. ThStf strange little fellow not nxfreqtraxtta lands on the deck of & Off in < canoi in his • two hundred yarda KbgMir twenty feet above the aui&acit thtf water. - He,'.is black and wbfikqj, wStit a covering which’, at g, doseljj resembles the plumage of the ; or Cape pigeon. The abnormally davalk ( oped pectoral fins, fikb' winger and ftg} . fluked tail oomplete th<s. Maori Jttusiori j that it is a cross between S pwj <&£' and a fish.' 7 The Frost Fish, Thei para (a dark stone& fish, is held by the Maori and those! jevf whites who have beeD. fortujiato to taste it, as the most delicate of all fish foods. . The para is believed to bai a deep"'sea' dweller that is seen only, when venturing near the surface in frosty, weather. , It appears to become, helpless, .and is 'cast ashore to be instantly devoured by flocks of gulls. _ A single specimen.-; was netted by an investigator at 1060 feet below. It; has never been hooked. ,It has a, slender silvery body up to six feet in length and weighing twelve pounds. In -coaching days, along the sea sands the para harvest was- the main compensation of the driver on bitter frosty mornings, when, travelling before dawn to catch' at low tide the ■ only practicable highway. For’ the dual purpose of the hunt, and to warm his feet, he carried his collie dog beneath the canvas apron. When he saw a flock of fighting birds three miles ahead, the dog jumped Off the “box,” raced to the spot, and scared the gulls until -the driver reclaimed the fish alive. The Octopus. ---AVheke-4te-vrush)--;re- the appropriate name for the octopus. As indicated, by its common-namej-there are eight arms. Fortunately the* octopus favours extreme depths, .Otherwise tlie. death roll from.,this ugly monster would be appalling. Bathers in the vicinity of rocky, shores are sometimes attacked, and if they escape; the horror of their, experience is‘ never-forgotten. From pictures one may be familiar with this “devil fish”; but not until it. is actually en- ' countered may its nature be realised; Oue was found on. the rocks after a storm, its five-feet tentacles a mass of suckers;: clinging to the.'.surf ace. One arm severed with an axe could not be removed from the rock, -while they animal _ ran along the • shore as fast as the terrified dog. It is practically boneless, and has a mass of' powerful muscles. The Maori occasionally captured and cooked it for' food,; but was careful in handling it,, for even the severed pieces would draw blood through the suckers. At Sva it emits an .inky fluid to secure its victims for food or evade an’ enemy. It is extraordinarily prolific and, in a season, will; produce 50,000 eggs, which are attached to the rock in groups of 1000 and hatched in 50 days. - t

The Sperm Whale. " ; Paraoa (tree ti’unk) is the sperm whale. The blunt upper jaw, as thick as the body, has a, pair of great tanklike spaces in which is stored the spermaceti, which gives this big fellow its value and its name. • They move about in schools of twenty or more, and thus fall an easy prey to . our cupidity. The end of the order is in sight. Onoe it was a game of daring and skill to throw the harpoon from a boat at twenty feet. Then came, the harpoon gun, fired from the deck of a steamer at a hundred yards, in safety. Now wehave a .ten thousand volt battery attached to an insulated .line:; which is more merciful but even more destructive. In the cld whaling days the paraoa was regard- . cd as the sea tiger, for he would smash up or sink a boat as effectively with his head as with a sweep' of his tail The highly prized patu paraoa, a short flat weapon known as a mere, and taa patu roa- or long taiaha of the chief, were' made from ’.whalebone,, patiently scraped and carved, with.pipi shells as the only t 0015... into perfect symmetry