220 • DEEP SEA FISHES. 



Compared with T. trachjrhjmhis from the Mediterranean this species is 

 more masisive forward, less pointed on the snout, and has a larger mouth 

 and a broader forehead. 



Station. Latitude. Longitude. Depth. Temperature. Bottom. 



2S18 0° 29' S. 89° 54' 30" W. 392 fathoms 43.9° F. Wli. and bk. S. 



3402 0° 57' 30" S. 89° 3' 30" W. 421 " 42.3° F. E. Glob. Oz. 



PLEUKONECTOIDS. 



The marine " Flat Fishes " are somewhat generally distributed in all seas, 

 with the possible exception of those around the poles. They live quite at 

 the bottom, are active, stroni^ swimmers and apparently have maintained 

 themselves at the upper levels of the ocean floor better than more sluggish 

 forms. None of them have yet been taken from so great a depth as one 

 thousand fathoms. In fact they have hardly been ranked with the deep 

 sea fishes ; but the vertical range has been carried farther down by each 

 succeeding expedition imtil it is no longer possible to exclude them. The 

 deepest record of any of the species is that of Ciiharicldhys dinoceros G. B., 

 of 955 fathoms, in the West Indies. The nearer approaches to this are 

 L'miiiii Byiii'd Goode, at 896, and Glupiocci^lialus cynocjlosms Linne, at 858 

 fatho:ns, both fro.n the northwestern Atlantic. In the northeastern Atlantic, 

 O. cijaoglossiis is noted by Giinther at 732 fathoms, and Solca profimdicola 

 Vaill. was taken by the " Talisman " at 684 fathoms. The greatest depth 

 assigned a mamber of the family in the northeastern Pacific is that of £mlass- 

 iclith'js bcithybins Gilb., taken by the " Albatross " at 603 fathoms in the 

 Smta Barbara channel. The greatest reported in the northern part of ihe 

 Indian Ocean froin the "Investigator" collections are Si/viiiJmriis Wocd-Mufoni 

 Ale. at 499, and both Syiuphurus scjjtemsirudus Ale. and Poccilojifeita prcc- 

 loiijii Ale. at 400 fathoms. At present more than fifty species are known to 

 occur at depths greater than one hundred fathoms ; of these, twenty are 

 0!i record from more than three hundred, seven at more than five hundred, 

 and three at more than eight hundred fathoms. Though the vertical range 

 has baen thus extended downward no special deep sea characters distin- 

 guishing bathybial from shoal water species would appear to have been 

 acquired. Luminous organs, obsolescent eyes, or special organs of touch, 

 other than elongate fin i-ays, have not yet been discovered in the family. 

 The majority of the species known to descend below three lunidred fathoms 

 from the surface are found to range upward to depths of a hundred and 



