86 



PELAGIC FAUNA 



times there will be several males to one female. In time the mouth of the 

 male becomes completely fused with the skin of the female, and its organs, 

 except for the sex organs, degenerate, so that for the rest of its life it is 

 nourished by the blood of the female. It is a marriage tie which cannot be 

 broken. We caught a number of these remarkable fishes including, in the 

 Gulf of Panama, the rare Borophryne, illustrated below with a dwarf male 

 clinging to the ventral side. A specimen of a similar species, Melanocetes, 

 was taken out of its glass whenever we had visitors on board, so that they 

 could see it fold and unfold its teeth. 



The depths of the ocean are sparsely populated ; and so when an angler- 

 fish is occasionally lucky enough to meet with a prey, it likes to have a 

 square meal. The prey is lured by the light of the "lantern"; and when 

 the angler-fish suddenly opens its jaws, the prey is simply sucked in and 

 trapped by the teeth, which rise from their folded position once it is 

 inside. The angler-fish is quite capable of swallowing a fish bigger than 

 itself; but should its teeth close on a creature stronger than itself the 

 result may be disaster, because it cannot release it. 



Deep-sea angler-fish (Borophryne), lamp on nose, and with a dwarf male grown on to the 

 ventral side. 



