FISHES FROM THE SEA-BOTTOM 421 



obtained when we consider the enormous difference in the 

 number of animals brought up by the trawl from the two regions 

 in question. 



The Fishes of the Continental Slopes 



The angle of the slopes rising from the abyssal plain 

 towards the coast varies in different parts of the globe, being 

 in some places steeper than in others. The percentages of the 

 ocean-floor given on p. 132 show that the steepest angle 

 occurs between 500 and 1000 fathoms, while the slope between 

 1000 and 2000 fathoms is much steeper than in the upper 100 

 fathoms. Between the shore-line and the loo-fathoms line the 

 angle of the slope is low, and this area is regarded as a special 

 region, generally termed the coast -plateau, or the continental 

 shelf or platform (see Fig. 144, p. 198). The fishermen's term 

 for this section of the sea-bottom is " the banks," and the narrow 

 intermediate belt between the coast-plateau and the continental 

 slope is by the fishermen termed " the edge." 



One of the objects of the " Michael Sars" Expedition was 

 to make a number of trawlings on the continental slopes of the 

 Atlantic in different latitudes, in order to study the fish-fauna at 

 different depths and under varying conditions. We succeeded "Michael 

 in making quite a number of good hauls, and, taken together onThe*^^"^^ 

 with the captures of other expeditions (especially those of the continental 

 French deep-sea expeditions), they give a good representation ^^°p^' 

 of the different fish-faunas. Our stations along the slope may 

 be divided into three groups : — 



1. West of Great Britain (including some hauls from 

 localities south of the Faroe Islands in the year 1902). 



2. Spanish Bay, west of Morocco. 



3. South of the Canaries. 



First of all, we will consider the number of fishes caught in 

 these hauls at different depths, as recorded in the following 

 table, and next we will investigate the vertical and horizontal 

 distribution of the species : — 



[Table 



