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THE 



VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGEK. 



ZOOLOGY. 



REPORT on the Pelagic Fishes collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the 

 Years 1873-76.^ By Dr. Albert Gunther, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S., 

 Keeper of the Department of Zoology in the British Museum. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Third Report on the Fishes collected during the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger 

 comprises an account of the specimens which were obtained in the open ocean by means 

 of the surface-net or otherwise. It is devoted, therefore, chiefly to Pelagic Fishes. 



The specimens were as numerous as those of either the shore or deep-sea series, but 

 by far the greater majority were of small or even minute size. Many of them would 

 have been lost but for the care taken at the time of their capture, by separating them 

 in tubes or mounting them there and then for microscopic examination. There were 

 comparatively few which, during or after capture, had so much suffered as to be unfit for 

 examination or description ; but I am compelled to omit in this Report mention of a 

 considerable number of specimens which were obtained at such an early stage of their 

 development, and which exhibit such small progress towards specialisation, that I am 

 unable to arrive at any conclusion as to the family or even order of fishes to which 

 they belong. On the other hand, I have admitted all such young forms, which, even if 

 their origin be uncertain at present, may be readily recognised by future observers. 



The pelagic fish-fauna consists, first, of the truly pelagic fishes, that is, fishes which 

 inhabit the surface of the ocean, ajjp reaching the shore only accidentally or while in 

 pursuit of their prey ; the majority are bred in the open sea and pass through the various 



(ZOOL. CHALL. EXP. — PABT LXXVIII. — 1889.) liii 1 



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