206 



THE OPAL SEA 



Oceania 

 pressure. 



lU effect 

 on fishes. 



fishes. Some species look telescoped (Argyro- 

 pelecus), some are drawTi out like lizards {Syn- 

 odus fcetens), some have an enormous back fin 

 like the lancet fish {Alepisaurus ferox). The 

 great majority of them seem abnormal in de- 

 velopment. And that may be due to the pe- 

 culiar circumstance of oceanic density. 



Living twenty thousand feet under the sea 

 the bottom fishes are, of course, subject to great 

 pressure. The estimate has been made of one 

 ton to tlie square inch for each one thousand 

 fathoms. This, in the great depths, would 

 mean four or five tons to the square inch ; and, 

 while such pressure is equalized by being felt 

 on all sides, it is not possible to conceive of a 

 fish enduring it unless peculiarly and specially 

 constructed for it. A bottle of champagne sent 

 dovm a thousand fathoms may come up intact, 

 cork and all; but the wine will be brackish. 

 The pressure will drive the sea water through 

 the cork. Multiply this pressure by five and 

 what surface fish could withstand it? But the 

 bottom dwellers have few bones. There is too 

 much carbonic-acid gas down there to tolerate 

 an extensive bony structure. The scales are 

 thin, the skins velvety, the bodies cartilaginous, 

 transparent, so soft and pliable that they are 

 perhaps porous. They do not resist the squeeze 



