THE MIGRATIONS OF CHlMsERA MONSTROSA n 



THE MIGRATIONS OF CHIMERA MONSTROSA 



By Alexander Meek. 



The records of the captures of Chimcera vwnstrosa by 

 Aberdeen trawlers have been published by Professor 

 D'Arcy W. Thompson, 1 and he has attempted therefrom 

 to give us an account of the migrations of this species. It is 

 not always easy to gather what Professor Thompson means 

 in the course of the paper, for he shows a disposition to 

 modify the statements he has made in one part of the paper 

 when fresh facts have been acquired at a later period. But 

 his main contention appears to be that the Northern 

 Chimaera winters off the coast of Norway and migrates in 

 the spring and summer to the Atlantic, and that the egg 

 laying takes place for the most part in the greatest depths 

 to which the species descends. " So far, then, as the Western 

 or Atlantic area is concerned, it would appear that both the 

 eggs and young of this fish occur towards the lowest limits 

 of the known depths to which this species descends " 

 (page 245). He points out on page 247 that in T//c 

 Migrations of Fish I said that the Chimaera was a 

 bathypelagic fish of the North Atlantic which migrated 

 towards the Continent in spring and early summer, and 

 I would like to add to this that I also stated that during this 

 migration spawning took place. " These, and also certain 

 other parts of Professor Meek's account, are by no means in 

 accord with the conclusions to which we have been led." 



I am glad he has said so, for if the migration is the 

 catadromous one, which Professor Thompson asks us to 

 accept, it is without parallel amongst fishes which deposit 

 demersal eggs. Professor Thompson has taken the acci- 

 dental captures made during seven years, many of them 

 being records of only one fish, and he has submitted this 

 scanty material to a method of smoothing which he will 

 find it difficult to justify. 



1 The Scottish Naturalist, October 1917, p. 235. 



