366 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



tensive beaches, are often the main source of food of the blue fox. 

 In certain quiet waters it is possible to look down from a row 

 boat and see a green carpet of sea urchins covering the floor 

 of the ocean. These animals make up the largest single item 

 in the diet of the sea otter. More specific information on the food 

 relations of Aleutian organisms will be presented, but some indi- 

 cation has here been given of the importance of the invertebrates 

 and fishes in the teeming, complex fauna of the northern seas. 



Specimens of invertebrates and fishes were collected at every 

 opportunity, but the time made available for this phase of the 

 work was very limited, therefore the collection is not complete. 

 In includes, however, 255 species, or subspecies, of invertebrates 

 and 48 species, or subspecies, of fishes, representing many of the 

 forms that are encountered in the Aleutian area. Two new genera 

 and six new species have been described to date on the basis of 

 material in the collection, and many other species have had 

 their ranges extended. 



With the exceptions noted, all of the specimens collected by 

 members of the Aleutian expeditions have been identified by staff 

 members of the United States National Museum or by collaborat- 

 ing agencies. The indispensable help of the following persons 

 is gratefully acknowledged: Paul Bartsch, S. S. Berry, H. B. 

 Bigelow, Austin H. Clark, Wesley R. Coe, J. E. Cornwall, Irving 

 Fox, Theodore C. Frye, C. T. Greene, David G. Hall, Melville H. 

 Hatch, Trevor Kincaid, J. T. Lucker, J. 0. Maloney, J. Percy 

 Moore, E. W. Price, Harald A. Render, Clarence Shoemaker, 

 Waldo L. Schmitt, Leonard P. Schultz, Alan Stone, William Ran- 

 dolph Taylor, Margaret E. Van Winkle, Arthur Welander, and 

 C. B. Wilson. 



In the following pages, notes are presented on the inverte- 

 brates and fishes that were most commonly observed or, because 

 of some special relationship to the birds and mammals, attracted 

 the attention of members of the 1936-38 party. Some of the 

 conspicuous marine algae are also discussed briefly. There is 

 no attempt in this report to list all of the species of organisms 

 collected, because, in the first place, such an array would be only 

 an approach to a complete check list of the organisms of the 

 Aleutian Islands. In the second place, a complete list of the species 

 collected in 1936-38 would serve no useful purpose, because the 

 specimen records, field data, and (in most cases) the specimens 

 are already in the hands of specialists who have published, or 

 will publish, on any material of outstanding value. It is hoped 

 that the present report will be of interest to future workers in 

 the Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. 



