BULLETIN 



OF 



The American Museum of Natural History 



Volume LII, 192S 



59.7(72.2) 



Article I.— DEEP SEA FISHES OF THE 'ALBATROSS' LOWER 

 CALIFORNIA EXPEDITION 1 



Plates I to IV and 1 Map 



By Charles H. Townsend and John T. Nichols 



The deep-sea fishes obtained by the 'Albatross' Expedition of 1911 

 to the Gulf of California were dredged, at twenty-six stations between 

 Cape San Lucas, Lower California, and Monterey, California, all but 

 four being within the 1000-fathom line of depth. 



The region covered by the dredgings, a thousand miles or more in 

 length, is. in general, rich in those forms of life characteristic of the 

 "deep-sea" fauna. Both fishes and invertebrates, including those taken 

 near shore at a depth no greater than 284 fathoms, were often found in 

 abundance. 



The collection of fishes, numbering several hundred specimens, 

 contains forty-nine species, of which only five are here described as new. 

 This small proportion of new forms may be explained by the fact that 

 the deep-sea fishes of this region are already well known from dredgings 

 made by the ' Albatross ' during many years of fishery service along the 

 Pacific Coast. 



The large number of species discovered since 1888 indicates that the 

 continental slope here has a fish fauna largely its own. While there is 

 some mingling with the many forms now known from Alaskan depths, 

 there is comparatively little identity with those taken southward from 

 the Gulf of California and still less with the deep-water fishes of the 

 Hawaiian region. 



Scientific Results of the Expedition to the Gulf of California in charge of C. H. Townsend, by the 

 U. S. Fisheries Steamship 'Albatross,' in 1911. Commander G. H. Burrage, U. S. N., Commanding. 

 XIV. Published by permission of the U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries. 



