THE FISH OF THE DEEP SEA 165 



vided with a snout that projects considerably in front 

 of the mouth. 



Of the family of the Eels there are several re- 

 presentatives in the deep sea. They are character- 

 ised by a combination of true eel characters with 

 special modifications due to a bathybial existence. ' To 

 enable them to seize upon prey more powerful than 

 themselves certain organs have undergone a degree 

 of specialisation, as is observed in bathybial members 

 of other families with a similar mode of life ; the 

 jaws are exceedingly elongate and the whole gape, 

 the pharynx and stomach capable of enormous dis- 

 tension.' The head is very large, the eye very small 

 and the tail long and tapering (fig. 22). 



The lessons we learn from the study of the fishes 

 of the deep sea are particularly instructive. It would 

 take far more space than can be afforded here to 

 fully illustrate all of the points that seem clear to us, 

 but I hope I have said sufficient to show that the 

 fish fauna is made up of genera and species belong- 

 ing to several widely separate families of the Teleostei ; 

 that some of them show, in a very marked way, what 

 may be looked upon as peculiarly bathybial characters, 

 whilst others are but slightly modified from their 

 shallow-water representatives. These facts by them- 



