If such a fish as a salvager existed in Puget sound It would undoubtedly be known to everyone in Seattle. I, as an authority on the subject of fish, would certainly have heard of it.
I have spent much of my time with Puget sound fishermen, and I have never heard any of them mention the name of “salvager,” even as a mythical being.
Mr. Alton states that the salvager, which is only two feet long, can lift a weight of two tons. This is quite impossible. An ant, the strongest animal for its size known, cannot lift more than three times its own weight. How could a two-foot fish, weighing probably 15 pounds, lift an object weighing two tons?
That any kind of a fish could be trained in rescue work is impossible. That a salvager could be taught to know the difference between a rock and a sack of coal, or a brick and a box of cigars, is ridiculous.
Mr. Alton seemed so honest and concert in his statements about this extraordinary fish that I am loath to cast any reflection upon his truthfulness and honesty. But I consider it only fair to the public to say that without the slightest doubt I consider Mr. Alton grossly misinformed.
“Of course you, as a wise editor, know all about the salvager sucker.” Yes, Mr. Editor, you must be a wise one to believe all that Mr. Alton told you in his letter.
HENRY HUMPBACK.
Professor of Ichthyology. U. of W.
