CHAPTER XX

THE MYTHOLOGY OF FISHES

=The Mermaid.=--A word may be said of the fishes which have no existence in fact and yet appear in popular literature or in superstition.

The mermaid, half woman and half fish, has been one of the most tenacious among these, and the manufacture of their dried bodies from the head, shoulders, and ribs of a monkey sealed to the body of a fish has long been a profitable industry in the Orient. The sea-lion, the dugong, and other marine mammals have been mistaken for mermaids, for their faces seen at a distance and their movements at rest are not inhuman, and their limbs and movements in the water are fish-like.

In China, small mermaids are very often made and sold to the curious. The head and torso of a monkey are fastened ingeniously to the body and tail of a fish. It is said that Linnæus was once forced to leave a town in Holland for questioning the genuineness of one of these mermaids, the property of some high official. These monsters are still manufactured for the "curio-trade."

=The Monkfish.=--Many strange fishes were described in the Middle Ages, the interest usually centering in some supposed relation of their appearance with the affairs of men. Some of these find their way into Rondelet's excellent book, "Histoire Entière des Poissons," in 1558. Two of these with the accompanying plate of one we here reproduce. Other myths less interesting grew out of careless, misprinted, or confused accounts on the part of naturalists and travelers.

"In our times in Norway a sea-monster has been taken after a great storm, to which all that saw it at once gave the name of monk; for it had a man's face, rude and ungracious, the head shorn and smooth. On the shoulders, like the cloak of a monk, were two long fins instead of arms, and the end of the body was finished by a long tail. The picture I present was given me by the very illustrious lady, Margaret de Valois, Queen of Navarre, who received it from a gentleman who gave a similar one to the emperor, Charles V., then in Spain. This gentleman said that he had seen the monster as the portrait shows it in Norway, thrown by the waves and tempests on the beach at a place called Dieze, near the town called Denelopoch. I have seen a similar picture at Rome not differing in mien. Among the sea-beasts, Pliny mentions a sea-mare and a Triton as among the creatures not imaginary. Pausanias also mentions a Triton."

Rondelet further says:

=The Bishop-fish.=--"I have seen a portrait of another sea-monster at Rome, whither it had been sent with letters that affirmed for certain that in 1531 one had seen this monster in a bishop's garb, as here portrayed, in Poland. Carried to the king of that country, it made certain signs that it had a great desire to return to the sea. Being taken thither it threw itself instantly into the water."

=The Sea-serpent.=--A myth of especial persistency is that of the sea-serpent. Most of the stories of this creature are seaman's yarns, sometimes based on a fragment of wreck, a long strip of kelp, the power of suggestion or the incitement of alcohol. But certain of these tales relate to real fishes. The sea-serpent with an uprearing red mane like that of a horse is the oarfish (_Regalecus_), a long, slender, fragile fish compressed like a ribbon and reaching a length of 25 feet. We here present a photograph of an oarfish (_Regalecus russelli_) stranded on the California coast at Newport in Orange County, California. A figure of a European species (_Regalecus glesne_) is also given showing the fish in its uninjured condition. Another reputed sea-serpent is the frilled shark (_Chlamydoselachus angineus_), which has been occasionally noticed by seamen. The struggles of the great killer (_Orca orca_) with the whales it attacks and destroys has also given rise to stories of the whale struggling in the embrace of some huge sea-monster. This description is correct, but the mammal is a monster itself, a relative of the whale and not a reptile.

It is often hard to account for some of the stories of the sea-serpent. A gentleman of unquestioned intelligence and sincerity lately described to the writer a sea-serpent he had seen at short range, 100 feet long, swimming at the surface, and with a head as large as a barrel. I do not know what he saw, but I do know that memory sometimes plays strange freaks.

Little venomous snakes with flattened tails (_Platyurus, Pelamis_) are found in the salt bays in many tropical regions of the Pacific (Gulf of California, Panama, East Indies, Japan), but these are not the conventional sea-serpents.

Certain slender fishes, as the thread-eel (_Nemichthys_) and the wolf-eel (_Anarrhichthys_), have been brought to naturalists as young sea-serpents, but these of course are genuine fishes.

Whatever the nature of the sea-serpent may be, this much is certain, that while many may be seen, none will ever be caught. The great swimming reptiles of the sea vanished at the end of Mesozoic time, and as living creatures will never be known of man.

As a record of the Mythology of Science, we may add the following remarks of Rafinesque on the imaginary garpike (_Litholepis adamantinus_), of which a specimen was painted for him by the wonderful brush of Audubon:

"This fish may be reckoned the wonder of the Ohio. It is only found as far up as the falls, and probably lives also in the Mississippi. I have seen it, but only at a distance, and have been shown some of its singular scales. Wonderful stories are related concerning this fish, but I have principally relied upon the description and picture given me by Mr. Audubon. Its length is from 4 to 10 feet. One was caught which weighed 400 pounds. It lies sometimes asleep or motionless on the surface of the water, and may be mistaken for a log or snag. It is impossible to take it in any other way than with the seine or a very strong hook; the prongs of the gig cannot pierce the scales, which are as hard as flint, and even proof against lead balls! Its flesh is not good to eat. It is a voracious fish. Its vulgar names are diamond-fish (owing to its scales being cut like diamonds), devil-fish, jackfish, garjack, etc. The snout is large, convex above, very obtuse, the eyes small and black; nostrils small, round before the eyes; mouth beneath the eyes, transversal with large angular teeth. Pectoral and abdominal fins trapezoidal. Dorsal and anal fins equal, longitudinal, with many rays. The whole body covered with large stone scales, lying in oblique rows; they are conical, pentagonal pentædral, with equal sides, from half an inch to one inch in diameter, brown at first but becoming the color of turtle-shell when dry. They strike fire with steel and are ball-proof!"