288 FISHES 



Saccopharynx has only been once taken at the bottom from a 

 depth of 898 fathoms ; other specimens have been taken at the 

 surface but floating in a helpless condition in consequence of 

 swallowing a fish too large for them. Many genera of the 

 Anguillidae are also abyssal, extending down to 2500 fathoms ; 

 Simenchlys parasiticus occurs in the Atlantic from 200 fathoms 

 to 1093 fathoms; it has a suctorial mouth and burrows into the 

 flesh of living halibut and other fishes. When we consider the 

 range in depth of some of these forms we must remember that 

 the common eel migrates from rivers and ponds to a depth 

 of over 500 fathoms in the sea, although this does not dis- 

 pose of the question whether the same species can live indiffer- 

 ently at the surface and at depths of more than a thousand 

 fathoms; the common eel does not return from its. migration. 

 Several less modified species of Anguillidae are taken at moder- 

 ate depths, Myrus pad lyrhync Juts for instance between 500 and 

 800 fathoms off Morocco. Among the Haplomi the family Sco- 

 pelidae includes both common pelagic forms and abyssal ; some 

 species of Scopelus {Myctophum) and of Chlorophthalmus 

 have been taken only within a hundred fathoms from the sur- 

 face, and at night are frequently taken at the actual surface ; 

 other species have been taken only at great depths. Synodus, 

 a little fish resembling Scopelus but without luminous organs, 

 has been taken only near the surface and down to 1 50 fathoms. 

 Other genera, e.g. Bathypterois, Bathysaurus, Scopelengys and 

 Ipnops are entirely abyssal. Bathypterois has the upper rays 

 of the pectorals and the first ray of the pelvic fins much elon- 

 gated ; different species have been taken in all the great oceans 

 at depths from 500 to 2500 fathoms. Bathysaurus has ordinary 

 fins, and a large mouth with sharp teeth ; it has been taken at 

 depths down to 2385 fathoms in the Atlantic and Pacific. Ipnops 

 has been taken only at very great depths, from 1300 to 2150 

 fathoms, and is one of the most extraordinary deep-sea fishes in 

 the absence of eyes and the presence in their place of organs 

 supposed to be luminous. Rondeletia and Cetomimus, taken at 

 depths between 1000 and 1600 fathoms in the North Atlantic, 

 are considered by Boulenger to be allied to the Scopelidae. 

 Cetomimus owes its name to its absurd resemblance in shape of 

 body, small eyes, and large curved mouth, to the Greenland 

 whale, although it is only five inches long, Rondeletia having 



