. Creatures of the sea [microform] : being the life stories of some sea birds, beasts, and fishes. Marine animals; Marine fishes; Faune marine; Poissons de mer. 150 Deep-Sea Chimaeras the deep sea durinq tliis last quarter of a <cntury. The salient note of tliese chimaras strikes me as being paradox. You shall find one fish of normal shape with enormous eyes, which will strike one as being indicated as necessary at those dim depths. But the next one, apparently of the same species as far as outline goes and depth of habitat, has but the rudiments of eyes, mere pin-points of black on each si
. Creatures of the sea [microform] : being the life stories of some sea birds, beasts, and fishes. Marine animals; Marine fishes; Faune marine; Poissons de mer. 150 Deep-Sea Chimaeras the deep sea durinq tliis last quarter of a <cntury. The salient note of tliese chimaras strikes me as being paradox. You shall find one fish of normal shape with enormous eyes, which will strike one as being indicated as necessary at those dim depths. But the next one, apparently of the same species as far as outline goes and depth of habitat, has but the rudiments of eyes, mere pin-points of black on each side of the head. Again, two fish are brought up from apparently the same depths. One has an enormous body, with corre- sponding stomach, and a mouth which will barely admit the little finger ; the other has a body like a whip-thong, or, say, a small eel, tapering to a vanishing point, and a mouth hke a pelican's exactly. One fish will have a stomach large enough to contain a fish as big as himself (the stomach expanding, of course) in the usual situa- tion for that organ ; another has a maw equally large, but it is on the back ! for all the world like the hump of a deformed camel. Other fish have immense taU fins, while close relatives have absolutely none, their bodies tapering off to nothing, without the vestige of a fin. Now I am fully aware that all this sounds like the rioting of a luxuriant imagination, but the illustra- tions are taken from life, and I do not think they will lead any one to believe that I have exaggerated at all. And it should also be remembered that those specimens that we have, picked up as they have been in widely separated areas of ocean and at various times, are not likely to be even representative of the strange sub-oceanic life. They only afford a glimpse, as it were, into this secret realm of Nature where she has outdone herself in the fashioning of strange mon- sters. One other remark must be made before pro- ceeding to particularise some individ
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmarineanimals, bookye
