COASTAL FISH I4I 



largest group was the brotulids, and the third the cod-fishes, if not in 

 number of individuals then in number of genera. Accidental causes may 

 of course account for this order, and I shall make no attempt to base 

 any statistics on so small a proportion of material. But if we compare this 

 haul with the composition of our total haul of bottom fish in the region 

 between 200 metres and 2,000 metres, we get an identical result. At 14 

 stations ranging from West Africa to the Gulf of Panama we fished 613 

 rat-tailed fishes, representing 15 genera with 26 species, 319 brotulids 

 representing 16 genera with 16 species, and 193 cod-fishes representing 

 seven genera with 10 species. 



The most dominant fishes over the continental shelf, the rat-tails or 

 grenadiers (Macrouridce), are closely related to cod-fish. We have two 

 of these in the Skagerrak: Coryphcenoides rupestris and Malacocephalus 

 Icevis, the former common and the latter a very rare visitor. The rat-tailed 

 fishes are confined to deep water, though a few may occasionally venture 

 over the continental shelf, and they are extremely typical of their habitat, 

 having a large head with huge eyes, usually a chin-barbel, and a rapidly 

 tapering body which terminates in a thread-like tail-tip. The mouth may 

 be at the front of the head, but as a general rule is on the under-side, 

 from where it may be projected as a short, wide tube. The snout is more 

 or less projecting, and in some forms is extended into a long, conical tip. 

 Like the well-developed lateral line, it contains sensitive organs, which 

 are essential when the fish frequents deep waters where not even its large 

 eyes can penetrate the absolute dark. The possession of these eyes, how- 

 ever, suggests that even species taken at depths below 500 — 600 metres 

 make considerable migrations up into water levels where the eyes may 

 be of use. Some of them, indeed, are accessible to fishing; but though 

 the flesh is good, the people of most countries shrink from eating these 

 remarkable messengers from another world. It was one of these odd 



The rat-tailed fish Coelorhynchus parallelus is a typical representative of the fauna of the 

 continental slope. Mozambique Channel, about 600 metres. 



