Papular Science Monthly 



377 



In Seattle, Washington, and 

 Portland, Oregon, whale meat 

 has been selling in the market 

 places for ten cents a pound. 

 It was first put on the market 

 in May and it has been selling 

 steadily ever since. Whale meat 

 has been used in Denmark to 

 feed the soldiers. 



Eating the Vegetables of 

 the Sea 



With your whale steak you 

 might have a dish of dulse or 

 kelp if you only knew how pal- 

 atable these marine vegetables 

 are. And you might top off 

 your dinner with a pudding 

 made from seaweed isinglass. 

 In Ireland, dulse is a much 

 favored vegetable, as is laver, 

 which is called "sloke." Both 

 these vegetables grow plentifully under 

 the water along all our Atlantic coast. 



Our seaweed resources are equal, 

 if not superior, to the Japanese 

 or those of any other country 

 Yet, while Japan prepares 

 seaweeds each year which 

 exceed $2 ,000,000 in value, 

 the total value of the 

 marine vegetables pre- 

 pared in this country 

 is $35,ooo- 



A Pirate of the Deep 

 Like the bluefish, cod and 

 haddock, the grayfish subsists 

 on a purely animal diet. It 

 feeds on fish, crabs, shrimp and 

 lobsters. The grayfish, like the 

 goosefish, enjoys a healthy ap- 

 petite. Indeed, it is so raven- 

 ous that it does not hesitate to 

 rob fishermen's nets and trawl 

 lines. It has splendid teeth of 

 a knife-like sharpness and 

 i. lakes a general nuisance of 



itself by cutting to pieces fishermen's gear in its piratical efforts to get the 

 square meal it always craves. Neither the trawl fishermen nor their brothers 

 of the nets are spared by these unscrupulous sea thieves. Most fishes produce 

 innumerable eggs, but the grayfish is an exception, Six or eight grayfish are 

 born of the mother fish, not helpless as young creatures usually are, but full 

 of fight and spoiling for a scrap. They are thoroughly well equipped to care 

 for themselves from the moment of birth, and they enter into the battle which 

 is the everyday program of marine life with the odds in their favor. Because 

 of this early start and because it is not generally used for food the propor- 

 tion of grayfish to attain maturity is much in excess of that of other fishes 



Japanese women sorting kelp. When prepared, this article 

 is used extensively, throughout Japan and China, for food 



The industry in the United States is 

 practically confined to Massachusetts, and 

 but a single species is used — Irish 

 moss. It is true that in Mon- 

 terey and Santa Barbara 

 Counties in California, Chi- 

 nese fishermen dry certain 

 marine algae for food, but 

 the value of this amounts 

 only to about eight hun- 

 dred dollars a year. 



Kelp is an enormous 

 seaplant which 

 abounds along the Pa- 

 cific coast. A full grown 

 plant will have a stem 

 three hundred feet in 

 length which bears at the 

 top an air bulb. From this 

 bulb grow fifty or more giant 

 leaves, each one of which will 

 attain a length of thirty or 

 forty feet. This plentiful vege- 

 table is entirely ignored by us, 

 but the Japanese prize it highly. 

 They make what is known as 

 "kombu" from kelp. Because 

 t fades in the curing process, 



The horned pout, or catfish, another 

 valuable article of food much despised 

 because of its looks and its whiskers 



much of it is dyed green, just 

 as French peas are dyed to give them 

 their pleasing color. This shredded, 

 dyed "kombu" is used as a vegetable 

 and is cooked with soups and meats. 

 It is even made into a sort of con- 

 fection by sugaring small strips of it. 

 "Kombu" appeals to the Occidental 

 taste when crisp sticks of it are broken 

 in small pieces and served as a cereal. 



