STRANGE FISH FACTS. It has been shown that the life of a fish is very great. Hundred of fish are still alive in the royal aquarium in St. Petersburg that were placed there more than 150 years ago. Fish Talk. -Curious sounds are uttered by some of the denizens of the ocean. That small, highly colored fish known as the hæmulon has been known to grunt loudly when taken from the water. The gizzard shad utters a note that can be heard some distance. The eel is said to make a noise that is almost musical. The dogfish utters the loudest sound of any fish. When taken from the water it sometimes gives a loud croak, and keeps it up as if in great agony. The sound of the drumfish can be heard while they are in the water. There is a fish in China seas which makes a sound by clapping its teeth together. The Australian lung-fish utters a singular barking sound at night that can be heard a long distance. Whales when stranded utter cries. These sounds of fish are the expression of their emotions, and have some meaning, either as a call, one individual to another, or as a communication of some kind. The eyes of deep-sea fish are very varied; some have neither eyes nor sight; others have greatly enlarged eyeballs. Sunlight cannot penetrate to any great depth. Some fish are phosphorescent and therefore luminous, some being able to throw out their light at will or extinguish it in time of danger. Fish with large eyes may have a better chance of finding food, but they cannot wholly depend upon sight, since some have quite abandoned all attempts to see. When a carp breathes, a wonderful mechanism is in motion. People marvel at the construction of a human being, with its 492 bones, 60 arteries, etc.; but a carp has 432 veins, 99 muscles, and, every time it breathes it moves no less than 4,386 bones and muscles. The proclivity of barnacles to adhere to ships' bottoms is well known to the veriest landlubber, but it is not so well known that these objectionable marine growths will sustain and have actually sustained human life for quite a period, as an emergency diet. Sturgeons sometimes attain great size. One captured in Yerik Bay, on the Don, weighed 72 poods or about 2,600 pounds, English. One this size would give about 10 poods of caviare, having a marketable value of 1,000 rubles. Codfish at certain times of the year, just before migration begins and after it is completed, are said to take sand into their stomachs for "ballast," which is discharged after the fish return. Fish can change their color at will. Many make remarkable changes. The fish that change most are the bottom feeders. They are able marvellously to adapt themselves to the color of their surroundings. Flying fish swim in shoals varying in number from a dozen to a hundred or more. They often leave the water at once, darting through the air in the same direction for 200 yards or more, and then descending to the water quickly, rising again, and then renewing their flight. The power of flight is limited to the time their fins remain moist. Fish have friendships. Porpoises are sometimes greatly attached to each other. Pet seals become attached to their keepers. The mother whale becomes most dangerous when her calf is killed by the whalers. Goldfish even can be tamed to manifest friendly intelligence. Sturgeons have made friendships with men. Newfoundland's annual catch of codfish sometimes reaches one hundred million. A fish dealer in Bath, Me., on cutting open a yellow perch found a 20-penny nail. One curious result of the hurricane that struck the Southern coast some years ago was the killing of quantities of fish. For many days after the storm the coast around Savannah and throughout the stretch where its force was most vented, was strewn with dead fish of all kinds. The normal temperature of the shark is 77° Fahr., of the oyster, 82°, of the porpoise, 100°. FISH PROFITS. The average value of the product of agricultural lands per acre or square mile is often computed, but there are seldom similar computations relating to the sea. The North Sea is one of the best of the world's fish fields. Its area is 225,884 square miles. The average yearly value of the fish catch is $41,000,000, so that every square mile averages $18.15. The American fisheries are represented by an annual catch of 1,696,000,000 pounds, worth $47,180,000. They are caught as follows: 616,000,000 pounds from the waters of the New England States; 596,000,000, Middle Atlantic States; 59,000,000, South Atlantic States; 84,000,000, Gulf States; 147,000,000, Pacific States; and 64,000,000 from Alaska; in the Great Lakes, 108,000,000, and interior fisheries, 19,000,000. NAVIES. ANCIENT AND MODERN NAVIES. FROM the construction of the great steam propelled vessels of to-day it is interesting to cast a glance at the naval architecture of the past. Of the infancy of the art of naval architecture we know little. It is almost certain, however, that the first vessels in use were not large, for the largest of the Grecian fleet at the siege of Troy, 1184 B. C., carried only 120 men. These vessels were all propelled by oars and had no decks. Such sails as they had were merely auxiliary to the oars, which were not discarded until a much later day. Fighting at sen had not then come into fashion and it is not until 500 years later that we read of vessels being built with a view to encountering enemies afloat. By this time the oars had been increased in number and arranged in banks, one above the other. The fighting men were stationed at the bow and stern, while the oarsmen occupied the center of the vessel. Later on, a deck was added, thus making room for a large number of soldiers aboard and more thoroughly protecting the oarsmen. The object of the naval tactics of that day was to run alongside of an enemy, and disable his vessel by breaking his oars, as well as to crush his sides if possible. In order to accomplish this, the prows, or peaks, were constructed of the strongest and toughest woods and were sometimes shod with iron, the prow frequently extending below the water line, thus rendering a blow the more destructive. This was the idea of ramming which in modern times has been revived. Other means of destruction were then resorted to as well, such, for instance, as Grecian fire. Of the history of ship-building after the fall of Roman civilization as little is definitely known as is of the period prior to it. The Saxon pirates who ravaged the coasts of Europe put to sea on their expeditions in large flatbottomed boats, the keels of which were of very light timber, the floors and sides being merely of wicker work, and the whole being covered with strong hides. In time these were replaced by vessels built of wood and having leather sails. Gradually the sails were increased until oars went out of use. The invention of gunpowder, or rather its application, about the beginning of the fifteenth century, and the consequent introduction of artillery on board of war vessels, led to further improvements. The galleys were first adapted to the new order of things by being enlarged and armed with guns placed in the bows. Later on, the galleys gave way to the galleons, in which the use of oars was entirely dispensed with. Port holes were then cut in the sides of vessels by means of which guns could be usefully carried on the lower deck. During the fifteenth century commerce between nations had greatly increased; the mariner's compass had come to be generally used; the astrolabe had been applied to navigation; America had been discovered; the Cape of Good Hope had been rounded; the sea route to the Indies had superseded the land route, and all this necessitated improvements and changes in ships. These, however, pertained chiefly to the fittings. No alterations had taken place in the models. Nearly all ships at this time carried guns. About the year 1529 the English ship, the Great Harry, was built. This has been styled the parent of the navies of the world. Her construction was considered to be a great triumph in ship-building, and gave a great impetus to naval architecture. About the year 1660 vessels containing three tiers of guns were built by the Spaniards, and the English, stimulated by their example, built the vessel, the Sovereign of the Seas, the finest specimen of a man-ofwar ever constructed up to that time. From that time naval architecture passed through the various phases with which a perusal of our own history makes us familiar, until it has developed to-day into the necessity of various classes of vessels, ranging from the mighty battleship to the speedy scout and from the quick destroyer to the dangerous submarine craft. Active List, United States Navy. The active list of the United States Navy comprises 1,340 commissioned and 177 warrant officers. The enlisted force numbers 14,603 The United States Marine Corps consists of 201 officers and 6,000 men. men. |