Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
August 25, 1823
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale to Rembrandt Peale, 25 Aug 1823; Selected Papers, 4: 310-312
Additional Source Text:
"The fish will be mounted in a few days, and I shall try to get the east-room below the Museum to exhibit it. it weighed 2044 [lbs.] without the intestines, is 15 feet across & 12 feet long, from the head to the end of the tail, the usial mode of meas[ur]ing animals, the body about 8 feet long. . . . It costs me much, in the first cost 315$ & many other expenses since. but I hope to be repaid by the exhibition of it before I place it in the Museum."
National Gazette and Literary Register (Philadelphia), 16 Oct 1823: "Great Natural Curiosity. Now exhibiting in the West Room of the State House under the Philadelphia Museum, for a few days only, A Devil Fish. This extraordinary animal is 12 feet long and 15 feet in breadth, and its weight upwards of 2000 pounds. In addition to its enormous size, the striking peculiarities of its structure are such, as cannot fail to gratify the curiosity of the admirers of Nature's wonderful productions. Admittance 25 cents -- Children half price."
Notes:
The Museum's devil fish was likely a manta ray, a large ray belonging to the genus Mobula (formerly its own genus Manta). The larger species, Mobula birostris (pictured here), reaches 7 m (23 ft) in width, while the smaller, Mobula alfredi, reaches 5.5 m (18 ft). Mantas are known as "devilfish" because of their horn-shaped cephalic fins, which are imagined to give them an "evil" appearance.
For Charles Willson Peale's extensive description of the acquisition, preservation (by Titian Ramsay Peale), and mounting of the devil fish, see Autobiography, Selected Papers, 5: 458-459.
It was still advertised as on exhibit in Poulson's American Daily Advertiser of 10 Dec 1823.
See also C. A. Lesueur, "Description of Several Species of the Linnaean Genus Raia, of North America," Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 4, part 1 (1824): 100-121, esp. 115-119, where he designates the Peale Museum specimen as Cephalopterus giorna / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24655214
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Peale's Common Name:
Devil fish
Current Common Name:
Manta ray
Current Scientific Name
Mobula birostris
