446 The Devil-fishes. Octopi It is the experience of keepers of aquaria that the curled octopus, Eledone cirrosa, is never safely put into a tank with Octopus vulgaris. A fierce cannibalistic zeal consumes the latter, and he consumes every specimen of his more gentle-mannered cousin. Even larger individuals than himself are attacked and destroyed. He apparently recognises his relative as a non-resist ant. and fears no opposition.
It is in his conflicts with man himself that the octopus earns the name of devil-fish. The cruel, vindictive expression of the eye seems to be a true index to the spirit with which the animal comports itself in combat with mortals. Fishermen dealing with octopi always carry axes to cut loose the arms if they are fastened on the boat. The power exerted by the suckers is tremendous. An octopus with a few of its arms holding on to the rocks has a few free with which to seize a swimmer. It is easy to bind him hand and foot, An over-reckless man is often drowned in two or three feet of water, overpowered by an octopus with arms of four feet spread and a body scarcely as large as his fist. Scientists without experience of this cephalopod tempt death in an effort to "collect" specimens of this sort, and need help to prevent the octopus from collecting a man. "Mansucker is one of its local names. It treats all victims alike, except that it picks the bones of vertebrates.
Denys Montfort describes an encounter between an octopus with arms three feet long and a great mastiff whose courage and strength had overcome a wolf which attacked his master. The
dog first ran around the devil-fish trying to seize its arms; but the creature skilfully withdrew each in turn, and used them to lash the dog over the back as if with whips. The angry dog at length got hold of an arm, but was immediately embraced by four others, which threatened to strangle him. The octopus started toward the water, its helpless victim howling piteously and the colour of its body changing from purplish to red. It made good head way, clinging to rocks as it went with its four free arms. M. Montfort here interfered, and succeeded in wrenching loose two arms from the dog's body. The octopus uttered cries like the angry growl of a watch dog. Leaving the dog it attacked the man. but was at length overpowered. Though the arms spread nine feet, the body was not larger than a small pumpkin.
One feature of the attack quite as important to reckon with 447 The Devil-fishes. Octopi as the remarkable strength of the creature's arms, is the cold, sickening, slimy feel of them. The horror of a personal encounter with a devil-fish will never be made more real to those fortunate enough to miss this thrilling experience than Victor Hugo has made it in his "Toilers of the Sea." Though lacking in scientific accuracy, it is still a zoological and rhetorical classic.
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