The Flying Squids and Giant Squids - Family Ommastrephdse
THE FLYING SQUIDS AND GIANT SQUIDS - FAMILY OMMASTREPHDSE. Body cylindrical, capable of swift flight through the water, fins united, posterior, usually terminal, rhomboidal like arrow head; arms fitted with suckers and cushions, perfectly fitted; mantle connections elaborate; pen horny, narrow, lance-shaped, tapering backward to a hollow cone; eyes cleft to admit sea water. Distribution world-wide.
Genus OMMASTREPHES, d'Orb.
Sessile arms webbed for swimming; wrist of each club of tentacles fitted with cushions and suckers to fit opposite wrist; fins dorsal; eyelids movable; food, fish, such as mackerel. Ene mies, cod and other fish, dolphins, whales, large birds. Distri bution, all northern and temperate oceans. Uses, bait for cod, and other deep sea fish.
"Sea arrow" is the sailor's name for these squids, which are oftenest seen in swarms; with fins foremost and arms trailing after, they look like barbed and feathered arrows. The impet uous onset often becomes a real flight. They rise from the ocean like flying fish and occasionally hurl themselves upon the deck of a vessel in a frenzy. The leap is often fifteen to eighteen feet clear of the water.
Into a school of mackerel or herring these squids carry devas tation, striking right and left, devouring with extreme rapacity, and cutting and biting many they do not eat, as if mad with the spirit of destruction. The uniform method of killing is by a bite on the back of the neck, the fish being first run down and seized by the arms of the foe. It is noted that the body of the sea arrow changes colour frequently during the excitement of killing its prey.
Moon-gazing is a habit that leads squids into sad straits.
455 The Flying Squids and Giant Squids Keeping an eye on this fascinating luminary they often run aground most unexpectedly, and exhaust their water supply and empty their inkbags in ineffectual attempts to get back to the water. This is theory, to be sure, but as stranded schools of
squid are much more frequent at the time of the full moon, quite independent of winds, the belief is established among long shore folk as a fact.
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence and down the New England coast fisherman devise moons of their own by setting torches or other brilliant lights in the bows of their boats, and then rowing shoreward. The squids, gazing on the approaching light, swim backward and are befouled on the bank before they know it.
Fires set along shore lure thousands of squid into shallow water where the receding tide leaves them helpless, the harvest of the thrifty fishermen who built the bonfires. Devices for catching squid are manifold, for bait is in constant demand by fishing smacks. One hundred thousand squid have been con sumed in a season by a single schooner on the Banks.
The Sea Arrow (0. sagittatus Lam.), is slenderly built, with the broad, pointed fin attached high on the back, and a sharp tip for cleaving the water. The neck is small, allowing the head free motion. When swimming slowly, the webs of the arms and the fins are seen to be in use without the funnel, and the progress is forward.
This creature is usually about fifteen to eighteen inches long. It inhabits northern waters chiefly, and is taken in vast quantities to be used as bait. This and the next species form the favourite food of cod. And cod are in the best condition after feeding awhile on squid. They take this bait better than any other, when it is fresh.
The Squid (0. illecebrosus, Verrill) is also captured thus by the thousands on the New England coast to use as bait for blue fish, striped and black bass, and other kinds of deep sea fish.