ANIMAL LIFE OF THE DEEP SEA BOTTOM 



173 



Benthosaurus, with feeler-like fin extensions. 

 Body sy centimetres long. 



If we take a chart showing the distribution of some of the deep-sea eels 

 we shall fail to understand it unless we correlate it with one showing 

 the distribution of their larvae. Clearly, when there are no suitable spawn- 

 ing grounds for the deep-sea eel Synaphobranchus in the eastern Pacific, 

 we already have the explanation why we obtained no adult Synaphobran- 

 chus in our trawls off the west of America, though we got them, for 

 example, in the Indian Ocean, where the Dana on her world voyage 

 caught the larvae at the surface (see above, p. 157). 



The above reflections are also intended to show that deep-sea explora- 

 tion is not to be viewed in isolation, but as a link — a very important 

 link — in the chain of scientific research whose purpose is to gain an 

 understanding of the significance of the oceans in the arrangement of 

 our earth. 



We would occasionally feel exhilerated by the great catches and the 

 advancement of our knowledge which we thought they gave; but then 

 suddenly a creature would turn op to show that our achievement also 

 was but an inch on the way. 



Take Galatheathauma, a creature with an appearance as formidable 

 as the spelling of its name (Fig. 175). It came up as late as May 6, 1952, 

 in one of the concluding trawls of the expedition, off tropical ^\'est Ame- 



