246 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF INDIAN OCEAN 



eye of a typical submarine rover, for there can be no 

 doubt that Chauliodus pammelas is a species that Hves 

 not on the bottom but somewhere in the middle regions 

 of the overlying canopy of water, and it is possible 

 that, like certain other members of its own family, 

 it may, even under cover of night, approach the sur- 

 face. 



Astronesthes (Fig. 45) is another of these black, 

 sharp-eyed, scintillating vampires of the lower world. 

 Its teeth are almost as cruel as those of Chatiliodus, 

 and its gape is only a degree less cavernous than 

 that of Malacosteus. In Astronesthes a fleshy barbel 

 hangs from the chin, but this is almost certainly a 

 lure rather than a feeler, for it has a phosphorescent 

 appearance, and in some species of the genus it is 

 actually tipped with a phosphorescent gland like the 

 lure of the purblind Onirodes, 



Lures are not so common in active rapacious fishes 

 like Astronesthes as they are in sluggish ground-fishes 

 like the Anglers [Pediculati), who take their prey not 

 by strength and speed but entirely by craft. On the 

 Indian list we have fourteen species of these deep-sea 

 fishermen, in two of which the bait is a luminous 

 spark, while in the others it is tassel of flesh or skin 

 that quivers cunningly. All these wily creatures are 

 believed to lie in wait, half buried in the mud at the 

 bottom of the sea, with their great frog-like mouths, 

 in front of which the lure is artlessly twitching, wide 



