THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



oceanographic research has revealed facts regarding 

 Charybdis, which outrival any of the old mythologies in 

 fascinating interest. 



As we know it today, this locality which we associate 

 with the old mythologies is an area in the Strait of 

 Messina, between Sicily and the Italian mainland, where 

 a rich store of marine life is periodically swept by fierce 

 rotatory currents and strong winds : an area inhabited by 

 myriads of weird creatures. 



The whirlpool itself — or rather the series of whirlpools 

 which make up the stretch of turbulent water — turns far 

 more swiftly than the slowly-wheeling Sargasso, but in 

 normal circumstances it is not dangerous to modern 

 shipping, save to small boats and during the times of its 

 maximum tides. From time immemorial the tidal forces 

 of sun and moon have tugged at the waters in the channel 

 (which is not more than 300 feet deep) and moved them 

 northward and southward alternately: even, at certain 

 times and seasons, sideways. This to-and-fro motion of 

 the waters is characteristic of the Charybdis, and while 

 it proceeds rhythmically the lives of its underwater 

 creatures continue normally. But twice a month the 

 ''daily round" of their existences is agitated into periods 

 of whirling violence, as the maximum tides turn the 

 flowing waters into raging torrents. 



When this happens hosts of organisms are forcibly 

 dragged up from the deeps, and for a few hours numbers 

 of living, half-alive and dead creatures are either con- 

 sumed by alert sea birds or cast up on the beaches. The 

 forms of life which survive such tidal hammer-blows are 

 in numerous cases either toughened criminals of the deep 

 or animals which have adapted themselves to the 

 thunderous wave-pressures in curious ways, but there 

 are also numbers of creatures which have survived by 

 taking the line of least resistance as "opportunists" of the 

 ocean. 



The sabre-toothed viper-fish is one of the most ex- 



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