Big Game at Sea 



then come up, beating something off. When the men 

 dragged him ashore it was found that he had been 

 attacked by barracudas, both coming from and going 

 to the wreck. One fish had struck him on the arm, 

 tearing it viciously, and on the return another had bit- 

 ten him severely. From this experience he was called 

 and known to everybody as Barracuda. 



These large and vicious fishes abounded in the 

 channel, and several men had been almost killed by 

 them, so I was told. 



The barracuda is not generally included in the list 

 of fishes dangerous to man, but it is none the less so, 

 its habit of darting at any white object it sees making 

 the act of swimming where it is found more or 

 less dangerous. Numbers of instances have been 

 reported, and the writer recalls one, where a barra- 

 cuda had been placed in the well of a sloop and for- 

 gotten, and which attacked a man who entered it to 

 make some repairs, maiming him for life. 



An illustration of the danger that sometimes lies 

 in small fishes is the case of a fish which is common 

 in the rivers of South America, the serrasalmo. It is 

 probably the most fearless of all fishes, very small, of 

 peculiar shape, with powerful jaws, so strong and 

 sharp that they can bite a piece out of an animal as 

 neatly as though it had been done with a pair of 

 scissors. In some sections it is impossible to fish, 

 as the moment a fish is hooked thousands of these 

 vicious creatures flock to the spot and tear it in pieces 



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