FROM THE DEPTHS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 13, 31 August 1911, Page 8

FROM THE DEPTHS.

MONSTERS OF THE DEEP, DEEP SEA. The ocean water at depths of a mile or more is so dense, and its pressure is so groat, that glass bottles forced down into it are crushed to powder, and tubes of metal are twisted and flattened out of shape. Yet living creatures inhabit these dense and heavy depths. From the underworld of tlitf" sea, where the pressure is two and a half tons to the square inch, the explorers’ dredges Ining up curious fishes, with bodies constructed with special reference to this environment of weight. Their bony and muscular systems are hot fully developed; the bones are permeated with pores and fissures. The calcareous matter is at a minimum, and the hones of the vertebrae are joined together so loosely that the large fishes often fall apart while being lifted out of the water. The muscles are all thin, and the connecting tissues seem almost wanting. Yet these fishes arc able to dart about and capture their prey. It is another interesting fact that no light penetrates those ocean abysses—all below' 1200ft.being total dark- \ ness—and this necessitates another adaption of the deep-sea inhabitants. They carry lanterns. Many of these deep-sea fish have special organs upon their sides and heads that are known to possess a luminous quality. One of the largest of these deep-sea torch-bearers is a fish six-feet long, with a dorsal fin extending nearly tlie entire length of the body. Along tlie sides of the body are double rows of luminous scales. One of the most ferocious of these deep-sea forms Inis a month full of teeth that protrude in a most forbidding manner. Tlie fins are all tipped with flaming spots, while along the dorsal surface extends a row of spots that' appear like so many windows through which light is ginning. The little fishes called “Bombay ducks” are luminous all oven - their entire surface, and when a number are collected together they present an astonishing spectacle. Another species has a jaw so arranged that it can seize fish twice its size and easily swallow them. Its stomach has the elastic quality of indiarubber. It stretches to enormous and appears like a great transparent balloon hanging under tlie fish, and containing its prey. The last expedition sent out by the Prince of Monaco brought to light some remarkable forms. The dredge off Morocco brought up from a depth of one and a half miles a fish that appeared to bo all bead or month. It was of small size, and the length of the month was about four-fifths of tlio entire body; so that, if the body had boon severed from behind the head it and two or three like it could have been stowed away in its capacious pouch. ft probably moves very slowly, scooping mud and oozp into its month, sitting- out the animal parts and rejecting the rest.