DANGEROUS FISH OF FLORIDA WATERS

Comparative tests made on blood and sea water show amazing
similarities in composition and it is believed that salt water is the medium
which first mothered the blood animals. Scientists today claim that all
life began in the salt sea or at its edges. (1 p. 91)

As animal life gradually adapted itself through the centuries to
changing conditions of climate, topography, and food, a great many
different life forms developed. Today there are some, such as those that
live in deserts, which rarely see so much as a whole drop of water from
one end of the year to the next. Some divide their lives equally between
the land and water and others, notably the fish, rarely leave the water.
There are so many kinds of fish that ichthyologists are never sure
that all of them have been identified. A long time ago more than 12,000
kinds were known but new creatures are being found with disconcerting
frequency. Some of these "discoveries" are by hazy circumstances and
hint of fearsome mysteries as was the "Loch Ness Monster" reported in
TIME. (January 15, 1934) (1 p. 97)

Not all are monsters however, but, like human beings, all are
concerned with their individual problems. The life of a fish is invested
with three important tasks; to avoid enemies, to reproduce and to satisfy
a perpetual hunger. To those the fierce barracuda adds one more-an
unreasoning and blind lust for grim murder.