160 THE FAUNA OF THE DEEP SEA 



erected they resembled the Pennatulids like 

 Umbellula.' Filhol considers that when the fish is 

 progressing through the obscurity of the abyss it 

 probably carries these organs directed forward, seek- 

 ing with them in the mud for any worms or other 

 animals upon which it preys, or receiving through 

 them warning of the approach of an enemy from whom 

 it is necessary to make an immediate escape. One 

 of the most remarkable of the deep-sea fish is closely 

 related to Bathypterois, namely Ipnops Murrayi, 

 living in depths of over 1,000 fathoms. It is about 

 five inches long, of a yellowish brown colour, with an 

 elongated subcylindrical body covered with large thin 

 deciduous scales. There are no phosphorescent organs 

 of the ordinary type met with in the Scopelidse, but 

 upon the upper surface of the head there is found a 

 pair of organs somewhat resembling the ordinary 

 eyes of fishes but devoid of retina and optic nerve, 

 that, from the researches of Moseley, seem to be un- 

 doubtedly organs for emitting light. ' The organs 

 are paired expanses, completely symmetrical in out- 

 line, placed on either side of the median line of the 

 upper flattened surface of the head of the fish, ex- 

 tending from a line a little posterior to the nasal 

 capsules nearly to a point above the posterior 



