194 ANIMALS OF LAND AND SEA 



poorly represented. They are mostly blind and spiny. There 

 are a few sea-spiders or pycnogonids, some of which are very 

 large; one single kind lives all the way from the shore line 

 down to 13,350 feet below the surface. 



Molluscs of all the principal groups except the pelagic occur; 

 one type, called solenogaster, a worm-like thing living on gor- 

 gonians and apparently parasitic on them, is most abundant in 

 deep water. The gastropods, or snails, though there are no 

 remarkable forms in the deep sea, are interesting in ranging 

 from at least 16,000 feet below the surface uninterruptedly to 

 above the snow line in the Himalayas. 



The fishes are practically all of the bony or teleostean type, 

 and chiefly represent modifications of forms represented at or 

 near the surface in the cold and temperate zones, or which 

 appear as nocturnal oceanic forms. They are small, mostly 

 black or dark sooty brown, sometimes albinistic, blind or with 

 large eyes, and often with long filamentous processes. 



Of the remaining animals there may be mentioned the few 

 brachiopods, less interesting geologically than the littoral ones, 

 some sipunculids, the few annelid worms, mostly living in 

 calcareous or quill-like tubes, the numerous radiolarians, and 

 the foraminifera. 



From this catalogue one might, perhaps, gather the im- 

 pression that animal life in the abysses is abundant, which 

 is far from true. A net dragged for two or more hours over 

 the sea floor, an operation consuming almost an entire day, 

 may bring up less than a handful of animals, or even none at 

 all. Rarely, and usually near shore off precipitous coasts, are 

 rich hauls made, such as the one described beyond. 



Like their relatives in shallow water, the deep sea animals, 

 especially the echinoderris and sponges and pennatulids, tend 

 to live in colonies, with various crustaceans, worms, etc., asso- 

 ciated with them. Sometimes the dredge brings up only the 

 dead remains of such a colony which has died from the ex- 

 haustion of the meager food supply or from old age or other 

 cause. 



