160 THE OCEAN FLOOR 



benthonic fish, Bassogigas, was brought up by the trawl 

 from 7,300 meters, together with over 3,000 holo- 

 thurians and other invertebrate bottom animals. 



In the Kermadec Trench, to the north of New Zea- 

 land, where the "Galathea" worked a few months later 

 and where the slope on the eastern side is much more 

 moderate than that of the Philippine Trench, both the 

 sledge trawl and the otter trawl could be used and a 

 series of hauls was made in depths between 2,500 and 

 8,500 meters. The catches made here in fourteen hauls 

 were surprisingly rich. No less than 216 different 

 species were caught, among which the crustaceans, 

 with over seventy species, were predominant. The 

 deepest haul, in 8,500 meters, also yielded excellent 

 results, netting sixteen bottom-living species, some of 

 them represented by as many as twenty individuals. In 

 more moderate depths, that is, higher up on the slope, 

 forty fish were caught, representing sixteen different 

 species. The largest fish was over 3^/4 feet long, with a 

 very large head and the tapering tail characteristic of 

 bottom fish. In general the hauls made in the Kermadec 

 Trench revealed a surprisingly large number of in- 

 dividuals and species, marking this trench as a most 

 promising field for future deep-sea trawling. 



Most marine organisms brought up from very great 

 depths arrived on board the ship dead or in a dying 

 condition. This is especially the case with abyssal fish. 

 Workers in the field seem to agree that it is not primarily 

 the great decrease in pressure which is fatal to abyssal 



