17° 



A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SEAS 



exception, though the precise length of time during which 

 the interested parties live together is at present unknown. 

 Within the last few years it has been discovered that the 

 male and female of certain Angler Fishes inhabiting the 

 deep waters of the northern hemisphere become perman- 

 ently united. Females have been discovered with minute 



Deep Sea Angler Fish with parasitic males 



males — only one-tenth of their partner's bulk, attached 

 by the head to various parts of the body. The identity 

 of the male in its free-swimming state has not been satis- 

 factorily established, but it is evident that he at first grips 

 the female with his jaws, the site of location being a matter 

 of chance. Once attached he grows on to his partner, 

 sharing her circulatory system, and in time becomes so 

 completely one with her that practically all his organs 

 save those vital to the fertilisation of the ova are reduced 

 to vanishing point. 



