CHAPTER XVI 



THE DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE INDIAN OCEAN 



{continued) 



In the Investigator collections there are several good 

 examples of deep-sea fishes whose defective eyesight 

 is compensated by barbels or by a wonderful trans- 

 formation of fin-rays into long, streaming feelers. This 

 phenomenon is by no means, of course, confined to 

 the deep sea ; for it is almost equally well illustrated 

 by certain estuarine and shore fishes, such as the 

 catfishes and PolynemidcE, that inhabit turbid waters 

 full of silt, in which it is difficult to see. 



Almost all the members of the Macruroid family (Fig. 

 31), which are characteristic denizens of the abysses, have 

 a barbel on the chin, and in some of them several of 

 the fin-rays are converted into streamers. Bathypterois 

 guentheri (Fig. 41) is the champion of these gropers 

 in the dark. This species has been taken near the 

 Andamans in 490 and 561 fathoms, and in the Arabian 

 Sea in 636 and 719 fathoms, and though it has some 

 phosphorescent patches on the head, which may perhaps 

 be used for alluring prey or for scaring enemies, its eyes 



