DWELLERS IN THE DEEP 



207 



but jdeld to it like jell}^ fishes. Yet for all the 

 weight of water there is sufficient stability of 

 structure to maintain distinct types; and in 

 spite of it the sperm whale, with his great bulk, 

 goes down into the sea and comes back again 

 to the surface none the worse for wear. The 

 bottom dweller, however, does not usually fare 

 so well as the whale when he comes to the 

 surface. With the pressure removed from him 

 he becomes very limp, wanting in fibre, quite 

 formless; and soon dies as a man might die 

 who is transported six or eight miles skyward 

 in a balloon. 



All the deep sea fishes are enormous eaters. 

 There being nothing to eat but the life about 

 them they live upon each other. Every facility 

 for killing and devouring is provided — lumi- 

 nescence to dazzle, swiftness and strength to 

 overtake and overpower, knife-blade teeth for 

 tearing, abnormally large jaws for crushing. 

 Whatever the prey, or however large it may be, 

 there is little trouble in swallowing it. The 

 mouth yawns like a cavern and the stomach 

 distends to hold a body even larger than the 

 swallower. 



For defence or escape from pursuit these 

 fishes have little more than the gloom of their 

 abode, the mud into which some of them bur- 



Peculiar 

 disiyn of 

 the deep 

 sea fishes. 



Their 



voracious 



appelilcs. 



