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Marvels of the Universe 



This curious denizen of the depths has an enormously long barbel, tufted at the end, which is 

 obviously used as an antenna, for the movements of the fish must be of the very slowest and feeblest, 

 its tail fin being but a rudiment. It remains only to add that it is not at all predaceous or 

 ferocious, for its teeth are hardly visible to the naked eye, it is velvety black in colour, and the 

 single specimen upon which the foregoing information is based was captured at a depth of about 

 eight thousand feet near the Azores. 



These few specimens out of an enormous number will serve to give an idea of the extraordinary 

 system of self-illumination existing among the inhabitants of those profound depths. But it must 

 be understood that we have only touched the fringe of the subject, feeble and tentative as is all the 

 knowledge extant. Moreover, wonderful and beautiful as are the hght systems, in strong distinction 

 to what in the majority of cases is the hideousness of the creatures bearing them, it is impossible 

 to think of them without the mind dwelling for a time upon the invisible ghding forms that, unlit. 



IBy Arthur Tmdle. 

 This fish is one of the most paradoxical of all the deep-sea denizens. It is sluggish, blind, and brilliantly lit, in 



fact a complex collection of marine puzzles. 



prowl those mighty depths unseen. A few, just one or two, here and there have been brought to 

 the light of day and given names in accordance with their terror-striking appearance, but it must be 

 at once evident, to even the most superficial reader, how few and feeble are those specimens 

 captured to those monstrous forms which no trawl, however strongly constructed, could 

 imprison. 



For this reason all the specimens we have are small, and we are, moreover, entirely uncertain 

 whether they have been caught on the bottom or not. We can only say that at such and such a 

 depth a specimen was taken without knowing whether it was entrapped while the trawl was going 

 down or coming up. It is not possible then for any man, however great bis knowledge of oceanology, 

 to say with confidence what living forms there are or are not at the bottom of the deep sea. It 

 is quite unlikely that any of the fearsome monsters which may there have their abode, either dwelling 

 in the thick darkness or surrounded by glowing incandescent globes furnished with light by their 

 own vitality, will ever voluntarily rise to the surface. But it is quite certain that what we do know 



