Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea by Lionel & Patricia Fanthorpe

Author:Lionel & Patricia Fanthorpe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn

Flying fish (Exocoetidae).

Among the strangest and most mysterious denizens of the deep are the angler fish. There are well over two hundred species of them, named because of their technique of what resembles fishing. Their “fishing rods” are actually spines of their dorsal fins, with a lure — often luminous — dangling on the end. Prey, fascinated by this “bait,” comes too close — and is promptly eaten.

Angler fish.

The sex life of the angler fish is even stranger than its food-gathering techniques. Only the female has the built-in fishing tackle. The male is much smaller than his mate and lives on her as a permanent parasite. The nuptials consist of the male giving the female a hearty bite and attaching himself. His mouth adheres to her skin and they are literally inseparable thereafter. He blends his bloodstream with hers and becomes totally dependent on her for nourishment. As time passes, he loses his eyes, followed by his internal organs — and remains solely as a source of sperm: the ultimate example, perhaps, of Darwinian survival mechanisms at their most economical!

One of the largely mythical terrors of the deep is the giant clam, Tridacna gigas, which is supposedly able to trap a diver’s legs and drown him. Admittedly, the giant clam can reach a width of well over a metre and a weight of 250 kilograms, but it would be hard pressed to trap a diver between its bivalvular shells because it has to empty its water chamber before it can get the shells to close — and this takes several seconds! Unless the diver who has been careless enough to put his foot between the giant clam’s two shells has a reaction speed that makes a sloth look like Billy the Kid drawing a Colt .45, he ought to be well clear of the closure hazard before the clam has got a quarter of its water chamber empty. Human beings are of more danger to the giant clam than it is to us. There are reports of souvenir giant clam shells being used as birdbaths and baptismal fonts in churches. Furthermore, some gourmets regard the clam’s flesh as both a delicacy and an aphrodisiac— a reputation that does nothing for its life expectancy.

Best known — and most feared — of all marine predators are the members of the sinister shark family. They come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, the hammerhead being one of the more spectacular. Big hammerheads can reach a length of six metres and a weight of 250 kilograms. They are ferocious predators with voracious appetites. Their diet includes squid, octopus, crustaceans, rays, and other sharks. Hammerheads are migratory and travel to cooler waters in summer. They give birth to live young, averaging about thirty pups, with an average length of seventy-five centimetres.

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