188 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 291 



Table XVI. — Summary of 3-meter IKMT tows made by R/V Pillsbury and 



•Data exclusive of the 300-500 m range where B. abyssicola is not represented. 



of exploratory fishing with midwater trawls has been conducted in the 

 Atlantic Ocean, and the records of Bathyteuthis are disproportionately 

 small. The IMS Museum houses the collections of Gerda^ Pillsbury, 

 Oregon^ Dana, etc., representing thousands of tows, and only a few 

 specimens of B. ahysslcola are among them. Furthermore, I have 

 searched the collections of pelagic material at Woods Hole Oceano- 

 graphic Institute, at the Museum of Comparative Zoolog}^, and at the 

 U.S. National Museum and have found only one or two specimens. The 

 conclusion is that B. ahyssicola is not abundant in the Atlantic; it is 

 found mostly in regions of relatively high productivity (e.g., eastern 

 tropical waters) . 



Comparisons With Other Species; Abundance and 

 Distribution 



Bathyteuthis abyssicola is the most abundant cephalopod that has 

 been taken during the Eltanin cruises. Nearly 600 specimens are repre- 

 sented in the material studied through Cruise 15. The species is so 

 common in midwater tows that personnel returning from cruises show 

 little enthusiasm about having caught so many specimens and about 

 having been able to observe these bathypelagic animals alive in 

 aquaria. This discussion considers the three species that follow B. abys- 

 sicola in abundance. 



1. Crystalloteuthis glacialis Chun, 1906 



Crystalloteuthis glacialis has been reported only three times in the 

 literature: originally by Chun (1906), in Chun's Valdivia monograph 



