142 COASTAL FISH 



fishes which attracted most attention when the Galathea displayed her 

 treasures to visitors, a long-nosed Trachyrinchus from South-west Africa. 

 This was the fa\'ourite quarry of journalists and press photographers, not 

 because of the interesting fact that it was new to the faunal region but 

 solely on account of its appearance. Yet it could easily be mistaken for 

 one of the commonest forms of all, the genus Coelorhynchus. Ten of the 

 26 rat-tailed fishes caught by the Galathea belonged to this species. 



While some rat-tailed fishes are known only from very limited regions, 

 others are widely distributed. The record in this respect is probably held 

 by our old friend from the Skagerrak, Malacocephalus Icevis, which we 

 met with both off East Africa and off South Australia. The remarkable 

 adaptability of this fish is indicated by the fact that off South Australia we 

 caught it at 1,350 metres, which is about its greatest known depth, while 

 once near the Skaw it was taken in little more than 100 metres of water. 



We have seen that it is the brotulid fishes which form the next largest 

 contingent of fish on the continental slope after the rat-tails. They provide 

 us with a good example of how a common mode of life can influence the 

 appearance of organisms; many brotulids so far resemble rat-tailed fishes 

 that at a first inspection even a specialist may ha\^e difficulty in distingu- 

 ishing them, though they are not closely related. The brotulid fishes belong 

 to the order of perch and their nearest relatives are our native viviparous 

 blenny. They are small or smallish fish which chiefly inhabit the Tropics, 

 some near the coasts but most in deep water and some even at very great 

 ocean depths. A few occur in such large numbers as to have some im- 

 portance to fishing. Especially numerous in our trawls were the genera 

 Dicrolene and Melanogrammus, of which in a single trawl at 938 metres 

 in the Gulf of Panama — the largest single trawl of the expedition — 

 we caught 60 and 90 specimens respectively. Altogether, we caught many 

 brotulids in this position, including three specimens of Bythites, one of 

 the few genera which occur outside tropical and near-tropical regions. 



It may seem surprising that cod-fishes are so well represented on the 

 continental slope, since this typically northern family is almost completely 



Tripterophycis gilchristi. 



