ANIMAL LIFE OF THE DEEP SEA BOTTOM 



By A. F. Bruun 



After crossing the threshold of the continental slope and having trouble 

 adjusting our echo-sounder to rapidly increasing depths, we would come 

 to a point, usually at about 2,000 metres, where the profile of the ocean 

 bed would seem to settle down: the deep sea, the Galathea's real field 

 of operations, would lie outstretched before us. Often the land would still 

 be in sight, and then we would feel tempted to imagine ourselves at a 

 le\el some 2,000 metres lower down, looking up the steep side of the 

 slope with its great gorges, which are often as massi\-e as deeply scored 

 canyons on land. Down to a few years ago there were still geologists who 

 thought that our ancestors of the Ice Age might have marvelled at this 



Deep-sea crab (Ethusa), with parasitic crustaceans under the tail. Three-quarters natural size. 



