THE GIANT CUTTLE-FISH.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2342, 18 September 1880, Page 2

THE GIANT CUTTLE-FISH.

Many interesting facts relating to the North-Americau giant cuttle-fish have been recently laid by Professor Verrill before the Connecticut Academy. The banks of the Newfoundland coast would seem to be the headquarters of these cephalopods. One was seen on the beach at Lance Cove, Trinity Bay, still alive and struggling desperately to escape. It was being borne in by a ‘‘spring tide” and a high inshore wind. In its struggles to get off it ploughed up a trench or furrow about thirty feet long, and of considerable depth, by the stream of water which it ejected with great force from its syphon. When the tide receded it died. Its body was nearly 11 feet long, its short arms were Id feet in length and much thicker than a man’s thigh, and its tentacular arms were each 33 feet long. But this was scarcely more than half the size of a specimen taken at a place called Thimble Tickle. A fisherman was out in a boat with two other men. Not far from the shore they observed some bulky object, and supposing it might be part of a wreck, they rowed towards it, and to their horror found themselves close to a huge fish having large glassy eyes, which was making desperate efforts to escape, and churning the water into foam by the motion of its immense arms and tail. It was aground, and the tide was ebbing. From the funnel at the back of the head it was ejecting large volumes of water. At times the water thrown out was as black as ink. Finding the monster parth r disabled, the fishermen plucked up courage and ventured near enough to throw the grapnel of their boat, the sharp flukes of which, having barbed points, sank into the soft body. To the grapnel they had attached a stout rope, which they carried ashore and tied to a tree. As the cuttle fish found itself moored, its struggles were terrific, and in a dying agony it flung its ten arms wildly about and as the tide recoded it became exhausted and died. It was a splendid specimen, the largest yet actually measured, being 20 feet in length from its beak to its tail and with arms upwards of 35 feet long.