SWIMMING ANIMALS
107
more than a foot in body, length, but there are some species
living out in the deep oceansthat are veritable giants of their ‘
kind.
These monsters may have bodies seVeral feet in
length and tentàcles thirtyor forty—feet long.
To add to
their horror each of the powerful suckers ranged along
the tentacles is armed with a cruel hook, which can tear
the esh of any prey on to which it fastens.
These huge
squids, which live in the dimly—lit layers thatoverlie the
,
cold, black abyss are very. rarely seen, and still more rarely
.
Caught.
But we can catch. them indiœctly, for it is on
these that the Sperm whales feed, and in the stomachs of
_
the whales can be found many remains of these squid,
especially thehard, chitinous, ’beak—like jaws.
...-SEA SERPENTS
'
If the sea—serpent- really: exists-surely it.—can be safely
classed as a swimming animal '!
It is tting then to con—
,
clude this chapter with a few*words about…this interesting
'
beast. ,
'
.
.
We can safely say that nearly all the accounts that have
been given about sea serpents have been due to mistaken
identity.
The giant squids mentioned aboVe are probably
the main cause of many of the stories that have arisen.
These monsters are kann at times to come to the surface;
What more like a serpent than One of these wriggling arms,
,
'
thirty feet in length, writhing one moment on the sea surface,
and the
raised aloft far outcf the water;
In many
descriptions the serpent has been Said to have been Spo'uting
water, an act quite to be expected of a squid.
OtherobjeCtsthathave.been suggested to have given
-
the appearance of a— serpe11t-are-many and varied, Amongst '
these are a. string Of pdrpoise5, two Basking sharks (it is a
common habit for these Sharks to Swim in pairs one behind