THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



analogy is a loose one and only superficially correct, for 

 the ''soil" of the Sargasso is the tangled weed itself, and 

 no garden on land is peopled with such great numbers of 

 living creatures. Amid the masses of seaweed there are 

 untold myriads of them — fantastic creatures in swarming 

 millions — busily engaged in their own peculiar activities 

 among the tangled stems and the tropical ''grapes", and 

 breeding in the rotting wreckage that has been steadily 

 drawn into the maw of the mighty whirlpool. 



Yet contrary to general belief the Sargasso is not 

 inhabited by vast varieties offish : the species are remark- 

 ably limited, as if numerous types avoid the area. The 

 fishes that are found among the weeds are limited to a 

 comparatively small number of species, and are usually 

 smaller in size than species of similar kinds swarming in 

 other parts of the ocean. It has been suggested that the 

 small fishes which are the natural food of sharks have 

 found sanctuary in the Sargasso. Captain C. C. Dixon, 

 an authority on such matters when he made the state- 

 ment, declared that sharks are never found within the 

 area of the weeds, and that certain types of fishes, 

 realizing this, have escaped into the Sargasso, where they 

 are safe from their chief enemy. 



Some authorities estimate that ninety per cent of the 

 wreckage of the oceans eventually finds its way into the 

 Sargasso Sea, making it the world's greatest rubbish tip. 

 Under every piece of partly-submerged wreckage is to be 

 found a creature appropriately called the wreck-fish. 

 This is another name for the stone bass {Polyprion 

 americanus) which makes all kinds of flotsam its head- 

 quarters, emerging for feeding purposes. It is a brownish 

 fish, of ghoulish appearance as it lurks like a footpad 

 near the sea alleys of the whirlpool, and only two species 

 are known. 



Certain varieties of file-fish and flying-fish are also 

 found — the latter often seen skimming over the surface 

 of the weed, and (according to mariners) much more 



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