[The 18th. ] THE VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS. 4.67 
“the dorsal fins.... of ribbon-fishes, as suggested by Dr. Andrew 
Wilson, may have furnished the “ridge of fins”’. 
I have only to direct my readers’ attention to the fact that a 
ribbon-fish has only ome connected dorsal jin, and not a ridge of 
fins, (compare fig. 13 with fig. 44). The dorsal fin of a ribbon-fish 
is quite red, the mane of the sea-serpent is dark brown, nearly 
black; the colour of the fish is silvery, that of the sea-serpent dark 
brown above, nearly black, and when having swum for a long 
time in the sun on the surface of the water, a greyish yellow; 
the under parts are of a dirty white. The fish has no flappers , 
which are the organs of locomotion of the sea-serpent. The breadth 
of a ribbon-fish 1s only a few inches, while that of the sea-serpent , 
as is clearly pointed out in the animal of the Osborne (n°. 148), 
may grow to more than fifteen feet. But I need not sum up the 
differences between ribbon-fishes and sea-serpents. We have only to 
ask the opinion of one of the most able ichthyologists of our days, 
and the whole hypothesis has not a leg to stand upon: 
Mr. GinrHeR says in his Lntroduction to the study of Fishes , 
1880, p. 520: 
“The “Ribbon-fishes” are true deep-sea fishes, met with in all 
parts of the oceans, generally found when floating dead on the 
surface, or thrown ashore by the waves..... i 
“When these fishes reach the surface of the water, the expansion 
of the gases within their body has so loosened all parts of their 
muscular and bony system, that they can be lifted out of the 
water with difficulty only, and nearly always portions of the body 
and fins are broken and lost..... At what depths ribbon-fishes 
live is not known; probably the depths vary for different species; 
but although none have been yet obtained by means of the deep- 
sea dredge, they must be abundant at the bottom of all oceans, 
as dead fishes or fragments of them are frequently obtained. Some 
writers have supposed from the great length and narrow shape of 
these fishes that they have been mistaken for “Sea-Serpents”; but 
as these monsters of the sea are always represented by those who 
have had the good fortune of meeting with them as remarkably 
active, it is not likely that harmless Ribbon fishes, which are 
either dying or dead, have been the objects described as “Sea- 
99 99 
Serpents . 
ae 
