ANTARCTIC ZONE 



93 



Cygnodraco mawsoni, Waite. 



Dacodraco hunteri, Waite. 



Paraliparis wildi, Waite (? P. antarcticus). 



Finally, the British, Australian, New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (1929- 



193 1), with the 'Discovery', under the leadership of Sir Douglas Mawson, made 



extensive collections in the Victoria and Enderby Quadrants of the Antarctic, and also 



obtained fishes from Kerguelen, Heard Island, the Crozets, and from Macquarie 



Island. The fishes were reported upon by Norman (1937), who described two new 



forms : 



Muraenolepis tnicrocephalus, Norman. 

 Dissostichus mawsoni, Norman. 



DISTRIBUTION OF ANTARCTIC COAST FISHES 



It has been pointed out in the introduction to this report that, of the 86 species of 

 fish recorded from the Antarctic Zone, 65 (75 per cent) belong to the Percoid Division 

 Nototheniiformes. Taking the Glacial District alone, the percentage rises to 76, and 

 for the coasts of the Antarctic Continent it is nearly 85. It follows, therefore, as Regan 

 (19146, p. 26) has pointed out, that this group of fishes is of paramount importance in 

 delimiting an Antarctic region or zone. The table on page 95 shows the distribution of 

 those species of Nototheniiform fishes occurring within the area bounded by the 

 Antarctic Convergence (fig. 59). The Glacial District is dealt with first, the four 

 quadrants of the Antarctic Continent preceding the more outlying islands ; the localities 

 of the Kerguelen-Macquarie District follow, and finally the Subantarctic districts — the 

 Patagonian region and the Antipodes. 



A glance at the two right-hand columns shows at once the importance of the Con- 

 vergence as a boundary for Antarctic coast fishes. Of the 65 species listed, only three 

 {Notothenia macrocephala, N. colbecki, Harpagifer bispinis) occur also in the Sub- 

 antarctic Zone, and only one of these {H. bispinis) is common to the Glacial District 

 and the Subantarctic Zone. Of the 26 genera listed, 21 are peculiar to the Glacial 

 District, i is peculiar to the Kerguelen-Macquarie District, and 4 are found also in 

 the Subantarctic Zone. Of these four genera, Harpagifer is monotypic, Dissostichus 

 and Champsocephaliis each have one species in the Antarctic and one in the Sub- 

 antarctic Zone, and the large genus Notothetiia is well represented in both zones. 



Regan {t.c, p. 29) has shown that the species of Notothenia form five natural groups, 

 and the species occurring in the Antarctic Zone may be distributed in these groups as 

 follows : 



