NO. 1816 STORY OF THE DEVIL-FISH — Clhh 167 



V 



The food of the Devil-fishes, so far from being large animals and 

 occasionally a man or so, as has been alleged, appears to be chiefly 

 the small crustaceans and young or small fishes which swarm in cer- 

 tain places near the surface of the w^ater. Rarely does one prey on 

 large fishes. Once only did the man who had the most experience 

 with the fish (Hon. William Elliott) see evidence of disposition to 

 resort to scalv fish ; he gives this testimony:^ "I have frequently ex- 

 amined the contents of their stomachs, and found little else in them 

 than portions of shell-fish, highly triturated, resembling the shells 

 of shrimps. Once a small crab was found entire ; but I sought in 

 vain for the scales of small fish, which I supposed to be their food, 

 partlv because the Devil-fish make their appearance in our waters in 

 May, before the shrimps are found on our shores, and would thus 

 be anticipating their food — a mistake which fish are not apt to 

 make — and partly because I witnessed a performance on the part of 

 a Devil-fish which could scarcely be referred to anything else but to 

 an occasional indulgence in a fish diet. 



"I w^as w^atching a Devil-fish, who was playing close to the shore. 

 But in shallow water he is often alarmed by the noise of the oars, 

 and he would not suffer my approach within striking distance. 

 While thus engaged, I observed a shoal of small mullets swimming 

 near the surface, and showing signs of extraordinary agitation, when 

 suddenly the open mouth of the Devil-fish was protruded from 

 below, and the small fry disappeared from view\ and w^ere received 

 into it, as into the mouth of an enormous funnel. I do not think it 

 was mere wantonness on the part of the fish, but that he was, on 

 that occasion, indulging a caprice of appetite, and substituting a chet 

 of scale-fish for his ordinary mess of shrimps." 



We have, in this observation, a hint as to the function of the 

 "horns" or head fins; these may not only serve by their extension 

 to partly confine the prey, but they may be actively used to drive or 

 scoop them in. The stories of their grasping intentionally may be 

 received with some skepticism, although they do so accidentally. 



It is, indeed, largely by means of the head fins, or caropteres, that 

 the Devil-fishes secure their food. That consists at least in part of 

 crustaceans and other organisms which live about the surface of the 

 seas they frequent. In the Gulf of California, where the Devil-fishes 

 are most numerous, such animalcules are said by one observer to so 

 abound that a thick sheet (nappe epaisse) of the organisms is 



' Op. cit., pp. 84, 85. 



