CRUISES OF THE "MICHAEL SARS 



71 



tures from all depths, and we hoped to trace the course of 

 the salt-water layer that flows out from the Mediterranean to 

 the Atlantic, which we felt would be interesting to all hydro- 

 graphers. 



We left Gibraltar on 4th May and steamed through the Trawiings in 

 Strait and past Cape Spartel in perfect weather till we came to ^p^"^^^ ^^y- 

 the coast bank, where at Station 20 (see Chart, Fig. 47) we saw 

 seven trawlers at work. Our trawl was dropped in 1 4 1 metres, and 

 towed for two and a half hours. The resulting catch of 163 

 fishes was a good sample of the ordinary species to be found 

 there, namely hake, different kinds of gurnard {Trigla sp.), 



Fig. 49. — Two Deep-Sea P'ishes of the Family Ai.epocephalid^. 



a. Alepocephalus from Station 23 (1215 metres). Nat. size, 60 cm. 



b. Conocara from Station 25 (2055 metres). Nat. size, 20 cm. 



mullet [Ahtlhis sttrmuletiis), and silvery or brilliantly-coloured 

 spiny-finned fishes [Capros, Pagelhcs, Dentex ; see Fig. 48). 



The next station (Station 21), in 535 metres, yielded 117 

 fish, including hake, but all the beautifully-hued fish had dis- 

 appeared. Instead we found the deep-sea fauna coming into 

 evidence [Maa^urus, CJiinicErd), and at the three following 

 trawling stations our catches were made up entirely of true 

 deep-sea fish (Fig. 49), namely : — 



Station 23 at 12 15 metres, 77 fishes. 

 Station 24 at 1615 metres, 32 fishes. 

 Station 25 at 2055 metres, 29 fishes. 



From a technical point of view these hauls were in every 

 way satisfactory, as our winch, trawl, and all connected with 

 them worked perfectly smoothly. The new swivels (Fig. 50) 



