692 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



boues of herring are often present. On the other hand, in some specimens, the contents of the 

 stomach are finely divided, as if the odontophore had been used for that purpose." 1 



The loss which the fisheries sustain through their voracity, however, is probably equalized by 

 the food which Cuttle-fishes furnish the carnivorous fishes and various other denizens of the deep. 

 For example, the sperm whale seems to rely largely upon a diet of big Squids, sinking to the 

 bottom where they are groping about, to drag them up, or nipping off their large arms as they 

 swim about iiear the surface. Dolphins and porpoises also prey upon the Cuttles, and all the 

 flesh-eating fishes pursue and devour them at every opportunity, particularly the cod and bluefish. 



Knowledge of this fact long ago led to the Squid being taken by fishermen as an attractive 

 bait. More than half of all the Bank fishing is said to be with such bait. When the shoals of 

 this mollusk \Loligo Squid] approach the coast hundreds of vessels are ready to capture them, 

 forming an extensive cuttle fishery, engaging five hundred sail of French, English, and American 

 ships. Their habit of moon-gazing, also, is sometimes taken advantage of on the coast of Maine 

 by the fishermen, who capture them for bait for codfish; they go out in dark nights with torches 

 in their boats and by advanciug slowly toward a beach drive them ashore. Violent storms heap 

 great windrows of dead Squids on the beach, where they are gathered up, and they are also 

 sometimes taken on lines adhering to the bait set for fishes. These "drives" and accidents 

 happen in the spring, when Cuttles are flocking into shallow water to lay their eggs. 



Since this solidly-fleshed animal is so extensively eaten by other animals it is not surprising 

 to find that men also should number it among the edible products of the sea. "The flesh of the 

 large cephalopodous animals," says Simmonds, 2 " was esteemed as a delicacy by the ancients. 

 Most of the Eastern nations, and those of the Polynesian Islands, partake of it and relish it as 

 food. They are exposed for sale dried in the bazaars or markets throughout India, and . . . 

 dried Cuttle-fish may be seen among the articles of Chinese, Japanese, and Siamese food. In 

 Chili the flesh is also considered a delicacy, and in Barbados the bastard Cuttle-fish or 'Calmar' 

 (Loligo gagittata Lam.) is used as an article of food by the lower classes." 



In the Mediterranean also, particularly near Tunis, and along the Portugal coast, the catch 

 and consumption of Cuttles is large, amounting to nearly a million pounds a year, most of which 

 is sold in Greece, after being salted and dried or pickled. These are Octopods. The same sort of 

 Cuttle-fish (Octopus punctatus) serves the double purpose on the Pacific coast, from California to 

 Alaska, of bait for the fisheries and food for the Indians. For the latter purpose it is chiefly 

 sought in Puget Sound, where the coast tribes hunt and kill Octopods often large enough to be 

 dangerous foes in a quarrel, by going to their haunts in canoes and spearing them. To some small 

 tribes the Octopus affords the chief supply of animal food. There is no reason why squid-flesh 

 from the northern Atlantic Ocean should not become available as food, and prove desirable to 

 those who like it. It would be both wholesome and cheap; and a single Architeuthis would 

 furnish a meal for a frigate's crew. In Bermuda the Octopus granulatus regularly forms a portion 

 of the fare of the fisher families. As the Bermudan fish and methods of capture prevail across 

 among the Florida reefs, no doubt this habit prevails there also. In New York City there is a 

 considerable sale of fresh Squids to foreign residents, and the trade is increasing. There seems 

 no reason why on some coasts this flesh should not be far more thoroughly utilized than it 

 is at present. 



In addition to its value as a bait, or as a source of oil (our Ommastrephes has been thus 

 utilized somewhat), and as possible food, the cephalopods contribute two or three useful articles 



1 Report U. 8. Pish Commission, part vii, 1882, pp. 305-308. 

 "Commercial Products of the Sea, p. 116. 



