ANIMAL LIFE OF THE DEEP SEA BOTTOM I77 



most Other deep-sea angler-fishes, our Galatheathauma was a giant of 47 

 centimetres, and so different from any other that we were justified in giving 

 it the new generic and specific name Galatheathauma axeli, after the 

 names of our ship and the Chairman of our committee, H. R. H. Prince 

 Axel. In a remote past the deep-sea angler-fishes shared a common an- 

 cestry with the angler of our North Atlantic coastal waters; but now most 

 of them no longer live on the bottom like our native angler, but swim 

 slowly around, lantern on nose, especially in the uppermost 2,000 metres 

 of the cold psychrospheric layers which underly the warm, sunlit reaches. 



There is a possibility that our fish was caught as the trawl was on its 

 way up; but if that were so, it is strange that it had never been caught 

 before. It seems to me to be far more probable that we here have a deep- 

 sea angler-fish which lives close to or on the bottom. There it need only 

 lie with its jaws open, lea\'ing the large light organ with its two fine 

 extensions to lure the fish or prawn to it; then as soon as the prey is 

 within reach of the long teeth the jaws will shut, the corners of the upper 

 jaw falling down and trapping the prey against the lower jaw. 



This living "mouse-trap" with bait is unquestionably the strangest catch 

 of the Galathea Expedition, and altogether one of the oddest creatures 

 in the teeming variety of the fish world. But we caught only one, right 

 at the end of the cruise, and still no one has caught the Great Sea Ser- 

 pent. 



There, deep down in the clear water, was the faint outline of the large 

 triangular bag of the sledge-trawl. It was pitch-black night, but the 

 quarter-deck lay bathed in the beams of our spotlights. Standing by the 

 trawl gallows, watching the trawl breaking surface, was the fishmaster, his 

 arm waving in a slow circle. 



At the winch all eyes were intently following the motions of his arm, 

 as they slowed down and then came to a stop, the hand raised as a signal 

 to stop hauling in. It all went with the fine rhythm of experienced team- 

 work, but the occasion was a special one: it was the first time that the 

 indicator had stood at zero after reaching 12,163 metres, the full length 

 of our wire. 



During the work of taking in the trawl and the two small dredges that 

 had been fixed to the trawl frame (it took a few minutes but felt like an 

 eternity), we prepared for the disappointment of seeing a bag without 

 any bottom animals in it; for a failure, in short. We comforted ourselves 

 with the thought that it was the first attempt with the full length of our new 

 wire, that everything had gone like clockwork all night, that the wire 



M 



