in the Solis Sea of the C-hilean Archipelago, atherinids or " priests " abound, which are poorly 

 represented in European waters. Such fishes (pejerreys of the genus Alenidia) form an impor- 

 tant part of the local fishery and can reach the size of grey mullets, which are themselves very 

 numerous (" lisas " of Argentina and " tainhas " of Brazil) and undertake considerable northerly 

 migrations in front of the Falkland Current. 



It will not even be possible to give here a summarised account of South African fishes, which 

 have recently been the subject of a remarkable work by J. L. B. Smith. However, among the 

 pelagic forms, some mention may be made of the gempylids, a family related to the scombroids. 

 In fact, these " snake-mackerel " look like very elongated mackerel. One of them, the " snoek " 

 (Thyrsites atiin) which reminded the Dutch settlers of a pike, is of real commercial importance 

 and is suitable for canning. The snake-mackerel, Gernpyliis serpens, swims in all the southern 

 seas. The Kon-tiki men were interested in this curious fish and Thor Heyerdahl relates how 

 one tried to cut the log-line of the famous raft. 



It would be surprising if the Australian continent with its strange terrestrial animals, 

 duck-billed platypus, spiny ant-eaters, kangaroos, etc., belonging to vanished faunas, did not 

 contain some " living fossils " in its fresh waters. As a matter of fact, the most archaic lung- 

 fish (Neoceratodus forsieri) lives in the Oueenland marshes and it has hardly changed in 

 appearance since the beginning of the Secondary Age. Being less far-seeing than the African 

 Protopterus or the New World Lepidosiren, it does not make a burrow but merely buries itself 

 in the mud. As soon as the waters have dried up it makes use of its air-breathing capacity, 

 but its skin must be kept moist for if it becomes completely dry the fish will die. Neoceratodus 

 does not build a nest. Its sticky eggs cling to aquatic plants and during the rainy season the 

 " tadpoles " hatch out. They have no external gills and assume the adult form without a 

 metamorphosis. A fish regularly associated with the lung-fishes, a large-scaled osteoglossid. 

 Scleropages, lives in the same localities. 



All the lands bordering the Southern Ocean; South African, Australian, New Zealand 

 and Magellanic contain fishes of the family Galaxiidae in their rivers. This family is sub- 

 antarctic and is more or less related to the Esocidae or pikes. The gala.xiids have long bodies 

 with equal-sized dorsal and anal fins set well to the rear. Many live in fresh waters and are 

 adapted to very varied biological conditions. In winter Galaxias fmdlayi becomes frozen 

 up in New Zealand pools; Galaxias coxi clings to rocks to withstand the violence of torrents; 

 Neochanna buries itself in the mud like a lung-fish. But another species, Galaxias aitenuatus, 

 is entirely catadromous. Spawning takes place in the sea during January or February in the 

 warm season. The return to the rivers occurs in April and May, while the dense shoals of 

 young fishes make their ascent of the watercourses soon afterwards. Like Anguilla, the fresh- 

 water eel, this Galaxias is one of the rare instances of a completely catadromous fish. 



In the southern seas along the shores of the Antarctic Continent, there are species belonging 

 to families that are found in northern regions. In the temperate and tropical zones these live 

 only at great depths because of their strictly stenothermal habits. Such are lycodids, small 

 eel-like creatures which keep distinctly to waters from 2 to loC. whatever the latitude. Follow- 

 ing the curves of the isotherms they are littoral or coastal near the two poles and take refuge 

 in the depths under the warm seas. 



Over the continental shelf and slope, callorhynchid fishes (Callorhynchiis antarclicus ) , 

 related to the chimaeras, root in the mud with their soft snout, which bears a large fleshy flap 

 at the tip. The tail ends in a long thread and a strong spine rises upwards in front of the first 

 dorsal fin. These southern chimaeras lay very large eggs measuring nearly 10 inches in length. 

 They are oval in shape and are covered with yellowish hairs. They are set securely in the light 

 soil, where they hatch. 



We saw that arctic seas abound in marine millers-thumbs of the family Cottidae. They 

 are replaced by nototheniids in the Antarctic Ocean ; fishes that are more or less related to the 

 weevers. The head often bristles with spines and the elongated body, which is edged with 

 long fins, ends in a sharp snout. The pelvic fins are placed under the throat and often extend 

 into long filaments. Pleiiro gramma anlardicum has been taken farthest south, at latitude 

 780S. in the Weddell Sea. 



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