Deep-sea fish

“ This is almost always ruptured as the fish comes to the surface. Indeed, some specimens have been found floating in a dying state on the waves, from having seized upon prey which was too powerful for them, and in struggling to escape dragged them into the upper waters, when some rupture took place and they floated helplessly to the surface. The most curious part of the organization of deep-sea fishes is undoubtedly the phosphorescent or luminous organs which distinguish several well-known species. ”

“ If, in chasing their prey, or for any other reason, they rise to a considerable distance above the floor of the ocean, the gases of their swimming-bladder become greatly expanded, and their specific gravity reduced. If the muscles are not strong enough to drive the body downwards, the fish, becoming more and more distended as it goes, is gradually killed on its long and involuntary journey to the surface of the sea. The deep-sea fish, then, are exposed to a danger that no other animals in this world are subject to—namely, that of tumbling upwards. ”

“ The deep-sea fish collections of the Fish Hawk and the Blake have been studied by Goode and Bean and Garman.
The deep-sea work of other countries may be briefly noticed. The French vessels Travailleur and Talisman have made collections chiefly in the Mediterranean and along the coast of Africa, the results having been made known by Léon Valliant. ”

“ Thus fresh waters, the arctic waters, the oceanic abysses are the "back woods" of fish life, localities favorable to the retention of primitive simplicity, equally favorable to subsequent degeneration. Practically all deep-sea fishes are degenerate descendants of shore fishes of various groups. Monotony and isolation permit or encourage degeneration of type. Where the struggle for existence is most intense the higher structures will be retained or developed. Among such facts as these derived from natural selection the cause of the relation of temperature to number of vertebræ must be sought. ”

“ It is, however, but rarely that deep-sea fish are found thus floating on the surface, and our knowledge of them is mainly derived from the dredge, and especially from the specimens thus obtained during the voyage of the Challenger.
In other respects, moreover, their conditions of life in the ocean-depths are very peculiar. The light of the sun can not penetrate beyond about two hundred fathoms; deeper than this, complete darkness prevails. Hence in many species the eyes have more or less completely disappeared. ”

“ Whenever we find in a fish long delicate filaments, developed in connection with the fins or the extremity of the tail, we may conclude that it is an inhabitant of still water and of quiet habits. Many deep-sea fishes (Trachypteridæ, Macruridæ, Ophidiidæ, Bathypterois) are provided with such filamentous prolongations, the development of which is perfectly in accordance with their sojourn in the absolutely quiet waters of abyssal depths. ”

“ They have lost their eyes and their brains are quite rudimentary compared with those of their land or shallow-water relatives. All have increased greatly the amount of gelatinous tissue between the internal organs, so that they have a low specific gravity. The deep-sea forms thus far collected are broad and flat. Some have taken on the appearance of small fish with outgrowths on the sides of the body which resemble fins, and with the rear end flattened like a fish’s tail. Some have developed tentacles around their mouths.
Most of the ribbon worms of the open sea are nearly transparent. ”

“ We have gained that the value of which we can not calculate with railroads and telegraphs, and the changes which have come over our social life; but it is equally impossible to estimate what, in turn, we have lost.
Deep-Sea Fishes.—Remembering the darkness and the enormous pressure of the water in the depths of the ocean, no one will be surprised that the forms and the organs of deep-sea fishes differ greatly from those of species which live near the surface. Unless among microscopic creatures, no such curious and grotesque shapes can be found in the animal kingdom as among these fishes. ”

“ As far as our observations go this primitive mode of fishing is usually anything but successful, the receding of the tide generally revealing a long row of clean hooks, with, perhaps, one or two dead or half-dead fish; and it is probable that most of the bait is devoured by crabs and other crustaceans before the water becomes sufficiently deep to allow the desired fishes to reach it. ”

“ Sea fish would seem at first sight to have almost unlimited means of dispersal, but this is far from being the case. Temperature forms a complete barrier to a large number of species, cold water being essential to many, while others can only dwell in the warmth of the tropics. Deep water is another barrier to large numbers of species which are adapted to shores and shallows ”

“ To call ourselves deep-sea fishes has been convenient, but, in a quasi-existence, there is no convenience that will not sooner or later turn awkward—so, if there be denser regions aloft, these regions should now be regarded as analogues of far-submerged oceanic regions, and things coming to this earth would be like things rising to an attenuated medium—and exploding—sometimes incandescently, sometimes with cold light—sometimes non-luminously, like deep-sea fishes brought to the surface—altogether conditions of inhospitality. ”

“ Thus the mouths of streams discharging themselves into the sea are usually good fishing pitches, as are the waters covering reefs and beds of sunken rock, which crop out and raise their crests above the ordinary sea bottom. On sand and gravel stretches flat fish of most kinds are to be successfully sought for; whilst a rugged, rock-strewed bottom, broken up into deep crevices and yawning weed-fringed gulfs, is a favourite resort of the larger crustacea. Nearly all sea fish are most disposed to feed as the tide rises. In tidal rivers many species of fish come “down” in force to the coming flood ”

“ It was also shown that, as the same species and genera are found in the most distant parts of the globe, the deep-sea fishes are not limited in their range, and consequently, as is admitted on other grounds, that the physical conditions of the ocean-depths must be much alike all the world over. ”

“ The little Stickleback of our ponds wears sharp spines, and knows well how to use them. Even the terrible Pike will not swallow such a dangerous mouthful unless driven by hunger.
Sea-fish are the most hunted of all living things. From the day they leave the egg, enemies lurk on all sides to gobble them up. The weak ones are eaten, and none of them has the chance to die of old age! So we find a defence of spines and prickles worn by many sea-fish. Spines on the fins are the commonest, and no doubt help to keep away enemies ”

“ The former are almost entirely confined to the temperate zones, extending beyond the Arctic Circle; the latter have, as deep-sea fishes generally, a much wider range, and hitherto have been found chiefly at considerable depths of rather low latitudes. Only two or three species inhabit fresh waters. They form one of the most important articles of food and subsistence to the fishermen in Europe and North America, and to whole tribes bordering upon the Arctic Ocean. ”

“ Now, the effect of these conditions on some part or parts of their structure is such that all deep-sea fishes are easily recognizable, without positive evidence of their having been caught at a great depth and in many of them the most striking characteristics relate to the pressure of the water they inhabit. Their bones and muscles are comparatively feebly developed ”

“ It offers no absolutely impassable barrier to the tropical fishes from either side. It bears a closer relation to either the Red Sea or the Mediterranean than they bear to each other. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the transfer of tropical shore fishes of the Old World between the Atlantic and Pacific, in recent times, has taken place mainly [Pg 269] around the southern point of Africa. To pelagic and deep-sea fishes the Cape of Good Hope has offered no barrier whatever. To ordinary fishes it is an obstacle, but not an impassable one. This the fauna itself shows. ”

“ The character of the deep-sea fauna is very important. The elevation of the West Indies to less than three thousand feet would exclude the Atlantic waters from the Antillean seas, except through two or three shallow straits, and one channel of enormous depth, between the Virgin Islands and St. Croix. According to the late Dr. Brown Goode, the deep-sea fishes belong to modern forms, apparently overflowing through the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico. There is no relationship whatever between the deep-sea fishes of these basins and those of the adjacent waters of the Pacific Ocean. ”

“ Deep-Sea Fishes—that is, fishes which inhabit such depths of the ocean that they are but little or not at all influenced by light or the surface temperature, and which, by their organization, are prevented from reaching the surface stratum in a healthy condition. ”

“ The most striking characteristic, found in many Deep-sea fishes, is in relation to the tremendous pressure under which they live. Their osseous and muscular systems are, as compared with the same parts of surface-fishes, very feebly developed. The bones have a fibrous, fissured, and cavernous texture; are light, with scarcely any calcareous matter, so that the point of a needle will readily penetrate them without breaking. The bones, especially the vertebræ, appear to be most loosely connected with one another ”

“ It seems to know perfectly well, however, that fishes are very inquisitive creatures, and that they are always greatly attracted by any object that glitters. So when it feels hungry it lies down at the bottom of the sea, stirs the mud gently up with its side fins, so as to conceal itself from view, and dangles the glittering spine up and down in front of its open mouth. Before very long some passing fish is sure to come swimming up to see what this strange object can possibly be; and then the angler just gives one snap with its great jaws, and that fish is seen no more. ”

“ The fins are small—so small as to appear almost rudimentary—yet the fish swims, or rather darts, along the bottom with amazing rapidity. They love to lie along the banks a few feet from the shore, where, concealed in the sand, they can dart out upon and seize their prey in their enormous "gripsack" mouths. The approach of a boat or a person walking along the sand will cause them to at once speed like lightning into deep water, leaving behind them a wake of sand and mud which is washed off their backs in their flight. ”

“ In the marine profound there are fishes in abundant variety that exist at depths of several miles, and perhaps also in its nethermost and as yet unknown deeps. Many of these fish seem to be limited to certain oceanic strata to which their organization may be specially adapted and to no other. From time immemorial finny creatures of soft and fluffy substance and distorted shape have been found floating, sometimes dead, sometimes barely living, upon the surface of the sea ”

“ Choate, "that in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, between Miami and Key West, more than 600 varieties of fish are to be found. They vary in size all the way from the tiny sea-horse, the size of a baby's little finger, to the great tarpon and killer-whale, the latter a vicious creature weighing many tons and large enough to swallow a good-sized boy without scraping the buttons off his jacket."
"It must be a lot of sport to catch some of these fairly big fish," remarked John Ross. ”

“ Some pelagic fishes, especially flying fishes and fishes allied to the mackerel, swim long distances to a region favorable for a deposition of spawn. Some species are known only in the waters they make their breeding homes, the individuals being scattered through the wide seas at other times. Many fresh-water fishes, as trout, suckers, etc., forsake the large streams in the spring, ascending the small brooks where they can rear their young in greater safety. Still others, known as anadromous fishes, feed and mature in the sea, but ascend the rivers as the impulse of reproduction grows strong. ”

“ The dolphin, the bonito, and the albacore, are sometimes caught with the grains, but generally by means of lines baited either with bits of tin, or with pieces of the flying-fish, when any are to be had. In fine weather, especially between the tropics, when the whole surface of the sea is often covered with them, a dozen lines are hung from the jib-boom end and spritsail yard, all so arranged, that when the ship sends forward, the hook, with its glittering bait, barely touches the water, but rises from it when the ship is raised up by the swell. ”

“ The mariner will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air. ”

“ They are the most hideous fish of the whole whale species, having a head that is enormously thick, and one third of their entire size, the spout-hole being at the fore end of it.
"In less time than I have taken to tell you all this, we were dragged out of the fiord; its rocks of black basalt and its sombre pine woods lessened astern; its entrance seemed to close like a gate as it blended with the coast; and the schooner, with her loose foretopsail all aback against the mast, was dragged in the wind's eye (whales usually swim so) for more than twenty miles out to sea. ”