694 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



liar and interestiug fauna. The richest development of submarine 

 animal life was always found in those places where the bottom began 

 to rise from the great deep toward the banks, especially where 

 it rose abruptly and where the clay was more or less mixed with sand. 

 Here is the home of the colossal Umbellulariae, and associated with 

 them we generally found a large number of different gaudy-colored ma- 

 rine animals, which give this whole region its peculiar character. This 

 year we likewise obtained some very fine specimens of Umbellularia, but 

 neither as many nor as large ones as last year, which seems to indicate 

 that it is confined to certain localities. 



An examination of this region yielded several new and interesting 

 specimens, especially Echinoderms, Actinia, and Mollusks. It was of 

 special interest to us to discover here such highly-organized animals as 

 fishes. In one of our hauls (station 124) two different kinds of a 

 peculiar arctic fish, Lycodes, were caught at a depth of about 400 fathoms 

 and a bottom-temperature of 0.9° C. j one of these fish had hitherto only 

 been found in the Polar Sea, and the other was entirely new. Our dredg- 

 ings did not always yield such good results. Not unfrequently we 

 found even in the Umbellularia region unusually poor and barren places. 

 a kind of submarine swamps, where the dredge like an anchor sank 

 deep into the mud, and was quickly filled with a peculiar soft, tough, 

 bluish clay containing scarcely any sand. Wlierever the bottom was 

 of this character we were prepared for poor hauls. The difficult and 

 wearisome examination of this tough clay produced only very few and 

 low animal forms, often nothing but a few Lumhrinereis and a peculiar 

 Sipunculide already observed last year, which seemed to flourish here, as 

 ■we found them in larger numbers and of greater size than anywhere 

 else. There is no doubt that the nature of the bottom plays a much 

 more important part in the distribution of marine-animal life than has 

 hitherto been supposed. The experience gained during our two expe- 

 ditions furnishes convincing proof that even the slightest change in the 

 composition of the bottom produces a very noticeable change in the 

 character of the fauna. The different depths which formerly were 

 thought to have a great deal to do with the character of the fauna, seem 

 to have much less influence on it, as our observations have proved that 

 one and the same animal may be found at very different depths, if only 

 the nature of the bottom and the temperature remain unchanged. 



As I remarked in my last report, the boundary of the cold area is 

 found in the southern portion of the waters examined by us at a depth 

 of about 300 fathoms. It might be expected that this boundary, the 

 farther north we get, will gradually rise higher, as in the farthest north 

 the cold area embraces the whole sea from the bottom to the surface. 

 We were therefore at first surprised not to find the cold area near Ves- 

 teraalen, until we reached a depth of 400 fathoms, therefore even deeper 

 than where we had found it six degrees farther south. This peculiar 

 circumstance, and the corresponding unequal distribution of animal life 



