. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 49 blind for want of light to see by, others have acquired great staring eyes to use the lea^t glimmer of light. It follows that iu the remotest ocean depths some kind of light exists for the use of the goggle-eyed fishes, and this is probably phosphorescent. When animals are drawn in a trawl from deep water to the surface, they glow brilliantly. It may be that their honu' on the sea floor is as brightly illumi- nated as a city street on a holiday night, tiiat there the prawns twinkle like stars, great fish flam
. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 49 blind for want of light to see by, others have acquired great staring eyes to use the lea^t glimmer of light. It follows that iu the remotest ocean depths some kind of light exists for the use of the goggle-eyed fishes, and this is probably phosphorescent. When animals are drawn in a trawl from deep water to the surface, they glow brilliantly. It may be that their honu' on the sea floor is as brightly illumi- nated as a city street on a holiday night, tiiat there the prawns twinkle like stars, great fish flame like torches and medusas glow like are lights. Three conditions in which the depths of the sea differ from the world of dry the bottom, his corpse is probably crushed by the tremendous pressure to the size and semblance of a folded um- brella. A popular error supposes that the force of gravity is inert at the bot- tom of the sea, that ships, men, and guns can sink only to a certain depth, where they are suspended each at its particular stratum of density. But really everything that is dropped into the sea from a feather to an anchor sinks at last, some in a few minutes, others in a few days, to the bottom of the sea. Only by slow degrees, lasting over many generations, can any kind of animal migrate to or from the abyss. An individual that passed up-. As a dweller in the abyss this fish has acquired the following notable features; large staring eyes for peering into perpetual gloom; long needle teeth useless for biting or fighting but used to guide helpless prey down its throat; a small, weak tail that is deficent in propulsive power, though strong enough for the gentle life of the great depths. DrawinLC—A. K. McCulloch. land are the cold, the darkness and the pressure. Both cold and darkness can be readily imagined from human ex- l^erience, but pressure is a factor whose features cannot be so easily realised. It has been calculated that the pres- sure in ocean depths, from
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