60 LIFE IN THE SEA [PART I 



{Buccinum and Fasus) are characteristic invertebrates. Here and 

 there are the feather starfishes {Antedon), and in the muddy parts 

 about 20 to 40 fathoms the little Norway lobster {Nephrops) may 

 abound. The polyzoon Flustra (the sea-mat or scented-weed of 

 the fishermen) is one of the commonest invertebrates of the region 

 which we are considering, and with it are to be associated numbers 

 of amphipods. This region is the great trawling ground of the 

 British area. All over it there are fishes like the whiting, cod, 

 gurnard, skate ray, plaice, dab, flounder, sole and many others, 

 while in the deeper parts are the witches, turbot and brill, and in 

 the north the halibut. The hake is found in the deeper water, 

 but this fish is a more conspicuous migrant into our area than 

 the others. The pestilent dogfishes {Scyllium and Acanthias) are 

 everywhere abundant. All round our coasts in water down to 

 about 50 fathoms in depth fish life is abundant, but below this 

 depth fishes become scarcer. 



-^ The deep-sea fauna. Forbes supposed that as we go do\\Ti 

 into the deep water beyond the laminarian zone life gradually 

 became less and less abundant until at a certain depth, which he 

 fixed in the Mediterranean at about 300 fathoms, it became 

 extinct. It is true that the shallow waters round the coasts 

 contain the most luxuriant life. Rivers here bring down fresh 

 water carrying in solution the food salts for the support of plant 

 life, and because of this and the complete lighting of the whole 

 thickness of the water layers plant life, both the larger algae and 

 the minute diatoms, are most abundant here. The tidal streams, 

 which are stronger near the coast, distribute this ultimate food 

 material brought down by the rivers and carry it along the 

 littoral waters. Life here is thus relatively abundant and as we 

 pass out into deep water it certainly becomes less so, but to say 

 that at any depth it is altogether absent is quite erroneous. Even 

 to say that life is very scanty in the great oceanic abysses may not 

 be justifiable, for it is an operation involving much expense of time 

 to dredge or trawl in very deep water, and it is certain that but an 

 insignificant portion of the sea bed at the great depths has been 

 explored. The shallow parts of the sea are very well known, at 

 least with respect to their benthic fauna and flora. It is hardly 



