FISHES FROM THE SEA-BOTTOM 437 



Previously all these fishes of the Norwegian Sea were 

 generally believed to live only along the bottom, but, as 

 mentioned in Chapter HI., the "Michael Sars " in May 191 1 

 obtained in a pelagic haul in the cold layers of the Norwegian 

 Sea a specimen of Paraliparis bathybii. In the cold water 

 layer there are thus fishes which at least occasionally occur in 

 midwater. 



On the coast banks off Greenland, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic 

 most northerly coasts of Spitzbergen dwells a genuine Arctic Juia ofThe^'' 

 fauna. Of these shallow cold-water species the following are Norwegian 

 most important : Icebis kamatics, Triglops pingelii, Ltwipenus 

 niactilatits, L. viedius, and L. lampetriformis, besides Gadtis 

 saida (the polar cod). 



On the east and south side of the Norwegian Sea, from 

 Spitzbergen along the coast of Norway and the North Sea 

 banks, and also at Iceland, the cold water does not occur on the 

 slopes in depths less than 600 or 700 metres, and the change 

 from the cold water to "Atlantic water" is very marked. The 

 deep-sea fauna and the fauna of the coast banks are for this 

 reason much more sharply separated than in the Atlantic. At 

 most seasons the limit is determined by the vertical distribution 

 of the Atlantic water, and this limit may oscillate according to 

 changes in the current, though this point has not yet been 

 thoroughly examined. 



The fishing experiments of the " Michael Sars " have some- 

 times in a very striking way shown how sharp the limit is 

 between the two faunce. In June 1902, for instance, a long line 

 of 1200 fathoms was shot on the northern slope of the North 

 Sea bank towards the deep water, one end of the line being in 

 217 fathoms, where the temperature was 6° C, and the other end 

 in 300 fathoms, where the temperature was — 0.2° C. In the cold 

 water we obtained cold-water fish {Raia hype^'borea), while near 

 the upper end of the line (in warmer water) the fish belonged to 

 the coast bank species [Sebastes, Macrurus fabricii). Rata 

 hyperborea has been taken from North Spitzbergen down to the 

 slope of the North Sea plateau ; Macrurus fabricii is known 

 from the Bay of Biscay, from the ocean off the east coast^of 

 North America, and from other localities. 



The Fishes of the Coast-banks 



The " Michael Sars " has now had the opportunity of 

 investigating the coast-banks from Spitsbergen to a little south 



