158 Deep^Sea Chimceras 



proved to be the fact wherever the number of in- 

 dividuals caught admits of distinction of habitat. 



The chief wonder about this fish, however, is its 

 extreme fragihty. It is so brittle that handling it is 

 almost an impossibility without breaking it. It is 

 quite impossible to preserve an entire specimen 

 without some portion of its fins being damaged, and 

 should it be let fall it would shiver like glass. Dr. 

 Giinther says that ' this is a condition consequent upon 

 their withdrawal from the pressure of the water to 

 which they are exposed in the depths where they 

 dwell. When within the limits of their natural haunts 

 the osseous, muscular, and fibrous parts of the body 

 will have that solidity which is required for the rapid 

 and powerful movements of a predatory fish.' This 

 is indeed a curious state of things, that a creature 

 too fragile to endure handling at the surface can 

 indulge in fierce, relentless warfare in those awful 

 depths, where pressures are so great as to force water 

 through the pores of cast steel. But there is no doubt 

 about the fact, for some of the lightest shells known, 

 a species of Janthina, more like a soap-bubble than 

 anything stronger, have been dredged up from enormous 

 depths, and, lying upon the laboratory table, an 

 incautious breath has shattered them. 



I judge from this peculiarity on the part of deep-sea 

 fish that a curious fish, often found after the cold 

 weather lying upon the beaches in various parts of 

 New Zealand, must be a deep-sea fish. It is locally 

 called a Frost-fish. It is very long, five feet or so, 

 and narrow, only about four inches wide by two inches 

 thick. It has a very large mouth and quite insignificant 

 fins, tail included, but dorsal fins running the whole 

 length of its body. Lying upon the beach in the 

 moonlight, it looks like a riband of silver, and running 



