REPORT ON THE DEEP-SEA FISHES. XIX 



HISTORY OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE FISH-FAUNA OF THE DEEP SEA. 



Isolated examples of Deep- Sea Fishes had fallen into the hands of zoologists at an 

 early period of systematic ichthyology ; thus, specimens of Trachypterus, Regalecun, 

 Saccopteryx, Stylophorus, Plagyodus, and other genera were known to and described by 

 zoologists of the last century. But, having been captured whilst floating on the surface or 

 near to the coast, they were regarded merely as extremely scarce creatures, without any 

 clear idea being entertained that they were stray individuals from the unknown depths 

 of the ocean. Risso was the first to distinguish a bathybial fish-fauna, assigning to it 

 certain fishes and stating the depths at which they habitually live. In enumerating^ the 

 various regions of the Gulf of Genoa he states — " Les grands abftnes de la mer ne sont 

 frequentes que par les alepocephales, les pomatomes, les chimeres et les lepidolepres. 

 Les profondeurs moindres sont la demeure habituelle des mcrlans, dcs molves, des phycis, 

 des soldados, des citules, des serioles, des tetragonures, des castagnolles, etc." He states 

 exactly the depths inhabited by several fishes : thus Alepocephalus rostratus occurs at a 

 depth of 2000 feet or more (350 fathoms), Track yrhynchus tracliyrhynchus and 

 Macrurus coslorhynchus at a depth of 1500 or 1800 feet (250 or 300 fathoms) "ou parait 

 constamment regner unc temperature de dix degres," Uraleptus maraldi at a depth of 

 1000 feet (170 fathoms), and Gadus minutus [Morua capdanus) at a depth of 

 300 metres (150 fathoms). 



During his numerous and prolonged visits to the Island of Madeira the Rev. R. T. 

 Lowe'' paid special attention to the wonderful variety of the fishes of the sea surrounding 

 that island. He discovered a number of new forms, the bathybial habits of which were 

 ascertained, either by himself at the time of their discovery, or subsequently by others 

 who studied the subject after him. In his History of the Fishes of Madeira, the five 

 parts of which appeared at irregular intervals between the years 1843 and 1860, and 

 which unfortunately remained unfinished, he gives the precise depths at which several 

 species occur, viz., Beryx splendens, "which begins to be met with, of small size, at a 

 depth of 150 or 200 fathoms, but is scarcely ever taken in fuU size and abundance, except 

 with its congener, Beryx decadactylus, the Alfonsin a caste larga, at the enormous dejstli 

 of from 300 to 400 fathoms, and from one to two leagues from shore " ; Scorp^na Icuhlii, 

 the "Requeime," which is "caught with lines of from 100 to 250 fathoms"; Thyrsites 



1 Histoire naturelle des priiicipales productions de I'Europe mt'ridionale, vol. iii., Paris, 1826 ; Introduction, 

 page X. 



2 He left England with his \nfe in April 1874 for his last journey to Madeira, which he never reached again. 

 The steamer " Liberia," in which he had taken his passage, foundered in the Bay of Biscay, not a soul being saved of 

 the passengers and crew. To him and to his successor in the field of Madeiran ichthyology, Mr. J. Y. Johnson, I 

 owe a debt of gratitude for the encouragement and help they gave me at an early period of my ichthyological stiidies. 



