APPENDIX O 



Dd. Ht 1 1 



ß^. flu 10. 



arctic in tlie cold water on the north side, the atlantic in the warmer layers on the southern 

 side ^nd even a fauna on the ridge itself, just as we find on all the coastal banks of the 

 Norwegian Seas; this will be described later in greater detail. If we fish in a straight line 

 from the Fseroe Isles southerly towards the Atlantic Ocean and in different depths, we find 

 the first Atlantic fishes, Centrophorids , which we know from the Portugese and West 

 African coasts, already at 400 — 600 m. These appear at the same time with such forms 

 of the coastal banks as the halibut, Spinax niger, Chimsera monstrosa etc. In greater depths 



on the other hand, e. g. from 700 — 2000 m, 

 we find the pure Atlantic fish-fauna; amongst 

 these are fish which remind one strongly of the 

 species on the coastal banks, and are so similar 

 to these indeed, that a very close examination 

 is required to discover that they belong to 

 other though nearly allied species. There is, 

 for example, a Chimsera (Ch. mirabilis) which 

 stands near to the Chimsera monstrosa of the 

 coastal banks, and we find a small shark 

 (Etmopterus princeps) which is related to the 

 Spinax niger of common occurrence in the Nor- 

 wegian fjords. 



In addition to these forms, which are so 

 nearly related to the fishes of the Norwegian Sea, 

 the majority at these depths consists of such 

 widely different and Atlantic forms as e. g. 

 the Notocanthidse (N. bonapartei), Mursenidse 

 (e. g. Synophobranchus pinnatus), Haloporphyrus 

 eques) Halargyreus (affinus) , Trachyrynchus 

 (Murrayi), various species of Macrurus especially 

 of the genus Coryphsenoides , and the above- 

 mentioned Centrophorus. 



The great richness in individuals on the 

 southern slope of the Iceland-Shetland ridge is 

 of great biological interest. In a single haul of 

 an hour at 61°7'N.L., 9°33'W. L. a catch of 

 about 300 fish could be made by a trawl of 50 foot head-line at 765 to 828 m; amongst these fishes 

 were : 4 Chimsera mirabilis Coll. n. sp., 14 Spinacidse (Centroscyllium Pabricii), Emopterus 

 princeps. Coll. n. sp., Centrophorus (squamosus), 15 Notacanthus bonapartei, 73 Haloporphyrus 

 eques, 94 Halargyreus affinis, Coll. n. sp., 74 specimens of the genus Coryphsenoides (C. rupestris 

 and sequalis) in addition to several specimens of various other forms. 



In a similar haul of the trawl at 59°23' N. L., 7°50' W. L. at a depth of 1057 m, 127 

 fish chiefly the same species were caught. 



These hauls with ordinary large apparatus give a new picture of the richness of the 

 great depths of the Atlantic Ocean, a region whose peculiar character has just been disclosed 



Fig. 1. 



I 



