Smyrna times., 1882-11-29
Underneath the Ocean.

National Academy of Sciences. las
week In Columbia College recitation
room. Professor A. E. Verrill of Yale
college described the physical anG
geological character of the sea bottom
OH our coast, especially that which lie,
beneath the Gulf Stream. He ba,
made 1900 observations this Summe,
for the United States Fish Commission.
ers. lie has cruised from Labrador to
chesapeake bay and about 200 miles
out to sea. About sixty miles outside
ol Nantucket is streak of very cold
water, and animals dredged up are
like those caugh in the waters of Creor.
iand' Spitzbergen or Siberia. The
water is 90 fathOms deep, and the bed
OF the ocean is of CLAW. Bowlders
weighing 800 or 1000 pounds are
dredged up. Professor Verrill believes
that they are brought down by icebergs
from the arctic regions and dropped
when the ice melts. The powders are
FOUND as far south as Long Island
FURTHER out to sea, 20 to l2O miles
south from the southeastern coast of
New England, the bottom of the sea
winch has inclined very gradually
eastward, forming table land, takes a
sudden dip downward, so that whereas
the water on the edge of the bluff is
loO tathoms deep, at the bottom of the
basin it is 1000 fathoms deep. The
slope is as high and as steep as Mount
Washington, and on its summit. which
Is level, diver, could he 90 to so low
depth, could not put out his hand
without touching a living creature
Inc bottom of the sea is covered lust
there with a fauna which has never
been before found outside of the NTad;-
t"rranean sea, the Gulf of Mexico. the
indies or other tropical regions. The
number of species of fish dredyed I'm ;s
oOo and over half of them have never
before been seen by naturalists. Sew
enty kinds of fish, 80 of crustacea and
2|O mollusks have been added to our
launa. The age of many of the speci-
mems shows that they must be perma-
nent in that region. The trowel LET
down from the ships by mile of rope
brings up ton of living and dead crabs
shrimp, starfsh. and as the trowel
simply scrapes over a small surface
the ocean bed is plainly carpeted with
creatures.
Sharks are seen by thousands in this
region and countless dolphins, but it
seems strange that not a fishbone Is
ever dredged up. A piece of wood
may be dredged up once a year, but it
Is honeycombed by the boring shellfsb
and falls to pieces at the touch of the
hand. This shows what destruction is
constantly going on in those deptbs.
II a ship sinks at sea with all on board
1t would be eaten up by fish with the
exception of the metal. and that would
corrode and disappear. Not bone of
human body would remain after a few
days. 1t is constant display of the
law OF the survival of the fttest
Nothing made by the hand of man was
dredged up after cruising for months
III the track of ocean vessels excenting
coal clinkers showed overheard from
steamships. Here Professor Verill
corrected himself; % miles from land
ne dredged up an India-rubber doll.
That, he said, was one thing the fish
could not eat.
Here the Gulf Stream is 40 miles
further west than any map shows. Prof.
Nerrill continued: and this stream of
warm water from the south nourishes
the tropical life near Massachusetts
The temperature further in shore is So
and toward the bottom of the basin 397
whlie further out to sea the temperture
OF the water grows colder. On the
surface the jellyfsh, rautilus and the
Portuguese man-of-war, with other
tropical fish, are found. In this belt
the tile fish, about which so much was
said year ago, were found in immense
quantities, but this Summer, although
expeditions have been made for the
express purpose of catching some, not ;
one could be taken. Undoubtedly they
had been killed, to a fish, by storm
which carried the cold into the Gulf -.
stream; indeed, it is known that n
cold current of water resting on the
oceans bed may contain Arctic fish. ,
md current of warm water floating :
'ver it on the surface may be alive
With tropical fish:
As to the quantity of light at the
bottom of the sea there has been much !
ilspute. Animals dredged from below :.
w tathoms either have no eyes, or
amt indications of them, or else their
yes are very large and protruding. t"
jrabs' eyes are four or five times as
arge as those of a crab from surface !,
Vater, which shows that light is feeble.
nd that eyes to be of any use must be
cry large and sensitive. Another =
TRANCE thing is that where the GREAT
res in those lower depths have any
olor, it is of orange, or red, or reddish
range. Sea anemones, corals, shrimp u
nd crabs have this brilliant color p
"metimes it is pure red or scarlet, and r'
many specimens it inclipes toward u
urple. Not green or blue fi,h IS W
'und. The orange red is the fish's q
rejection, for the bluish-green light in u u
ne bottom of the ocean makes the d'
range or red fish appear of neutral W
MT, and hides it from enemies. Manv OF
nimals are black, others neutral in ne
'lOr. Some fish are provided with p'
oring tails, so that they can burrow in IN
he mud. Finally. the surfana of tbo IN