CLASSIFIED RESUME OF ORGANISMS OBSERVED 319 



Family sternoptychidae 



Sternoptychids were reported twenty-eight times, be- 

 tween 650 and 2800 feet. During the early dives I did not 

 distinguish between Argyropelecus and Sternoptyx, but 

 when I began concentrating only upon what I was watch- 

 ing, and refused to be distracted by succeeding flares, I 

 could easily tell one form from the other, if they were 

 close to the window and side on. 



I could plainly see the lights of their downwardly- 

 directed photophores when the fish swam above me or 

 turned partly over. Usually the light was of no definite 

 tint, but once five Sternoptyx showed a definitely blue 

 radiance. Almost always the illumination was obliterated 

 when the fish passed through the beam. 



About a third of the time I saw single individuals, but 

 usually members of this family swam close together in 

 groups of four or five. Once, at 800 feet, a school of 

 twenty small fish passed. Members of both genera were 

 always exceedingly active. They paid no attention to the 

 beam, frequently swimming right through it without de- 

 flecting their course. 



Individuals two inches or more in length were seen sev- 

 eral times, at 1000 feet and below. The largest was an 

 Argyropelecus fully four inches long and three deep, twice 

 as large as any we have ever captured in our nets. Although 

 we have taken a few very young Sternoptychids as high up 

 as 300 feet, none fully grown has been caught above 1800, 

 and the majority are taken far below this depth. 



