0100,0100,0100 Sid's point is well taken, though I think that the balance of evidence is that the Balance Fish (Hammerhead Shark) is not a likely candidate. Off the West coast of Scotland we have dolphins, porpoise, killer whales, minke whales and basking sharks. A better choice based on present-day ecosystems would have been basking sharks, which can be up to 10 metres long and weigh up to 7 tonnes. They cruise at the surface with mouth wide agape sucking in plankton and could easily have swallowed a bottle. The Professor of Marine Biology at Glasgow University considered a Balance Fish most unlikely and the Curator of the National Museum of Scotland confirmed that no sightings are recorded. I will contact the National Marine Aquarium at Plymouth, which is responsible for maintaining a database of rare fishes off Britain. Certainly the Hammerhead features on the British list and it is even possible that Verne sighted one on his voyages on the English Channel but it seems that no sightings have been recorded anywhere near the Clyde....sharks are specialised feeders and access to food supply would have been crucial. I don't think that it is a very important point as far as the narrative is concerned and it is always more satisfying to prove Verne right rather than wrong. Lets see what the folks at Plymouth suggest. Ian Thompson.