DEEP-SEA FISHES. 19 



•wall, by virtue of which the shape of the fish is greatly changed 

 after a good meal. In the case of Saccopharynx (986), for 

 instance, the size of the abdomen is due to the fish having 

 swallowed another fish of considerable size shortly before it was 

 itself caught. A still more remarkable case is that of Chiasmodon 

 (978, fig. 7), which prior to capture had devoured a fish larger 

 than itself, and the shape of which was clearly discernible through 

 the tightly stretched wall of the distended abdomen when the fish 

 came to hand. 



Chauliodus (975, and fig. 8) is a fairly common deep-sea fish, 

 chiefly remarkable for the great length of its teeth. Bathypterois 

 (983) is a small-eyed fish presenting a great elongation of the 

 uppermost ray of the pectoral fin and the foremost two rays of the 

 pelvic fin ; these filamentous rays are doubtless used as " feelers." 

 A similar function may be attributed to the rays of the paired fins 

 of Paraliparis (973), a fish allied to the Sea-snails (Liparis, 836 

 and 837, Wall-case 19) of the English coast. 



Fig. 8. — A Deep-sea Fish, Chauliodus sloanii. 

 (From Giinther, "Study of Fishes.") 



Dolopichthys (972) is a fish belonging to the Ceratiidse, a deep- 

 sea family related to the Angler-fishes. The "lure," which serves 

 as a bait to induce the prey to come within reach of the jaws, and 

 which is suspended from the end of a long fin-ray of the dorsal 

 fin, is in Dolopichthys a luminous structure. 



The fishes represented in Cabinet-case 44 are only the most 

 striking and exceptional of the deep-sea fishes. Those less modified 

 are shown in the systematic series in the Wall-cases. 



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