BATHYPELAGIC SQUID BATHYTEUTHIS 



155 



are rare (these are usually associated with areas of up^yelling) and it 

 seems unlikely that B. abyssicola could buck the strong outflow- 

 current over the sill. Even if it were able to negotiate the Straits, it 

 would be subjected to temperatures and salinities much greater than 

 those at which it normally lives. Pfetfer's (1912) and Joubin's (1920) 

 reports of B. abyssicola from the Mediterranean have been shown to 

 be misidentifications (see Historical Eesume) ; present information 

 about the ecology of the species further confirms the conclusion that 

 these authors were in error. 



Indian Ocean 



Although no specimens of Bathyteuthls from the Indian Ocean have 

 been available for this study, several records do exist. Chun's speci- 

 mens, with the exception of one from off South Africa, all come from 

 the Indian Ocean : southwest of Ceylon, north of the Chagos Archi- 

 pelago, and northwest of Sumatra in the Malacca Straits. Massy 

 (1916) recorded two specimens from east of Ceylon in the southern 

 Bay of Bengal. One location of the specimens of B. abyssicola, recorded 

 by Thiele (1921) lies below 40° S at the far western end of the Indian 

 Ocean. The holotype of B. abyssicola Hoyle (1885) was taken in the 



Figures 55-56.— Capture points of Bathyteuihis abyssicola. Salinity°/oo. 55 (top). 

 Vertical section, eastern Atlantic. 56 (bottom).— Vertical section, western Atlantic. 

 321-534 O— 69 11 



