The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-26

roecHIIGHT PROCESSION AT
Tsr BOTTOM OF THE SEA.

-, r.shes Brought Up by the Fish
w, ~, -ssion Nets-Creatures That
[tra ~h~ee Miles Under Water-Their
pbvsical surroundings-How they
I,ght Up the Seas Abyss.
r,om the Washington Star.
=. Cor. and bottles that stand in rows on
,!,5eIves Of a laboratory at the National
T,.snn, are many strange fishes, To catch
~ 6sb as these a fisherman would have
su,r far out into the open sea and have
Iino two or three miles long. These
'os have been studied and figured and
ID the subjects of many new and
.,aerfnl chapters of natural history.
~ Tarleton H. Bean, the curator of ich-
.hyoIogy was studying one of them when
w invaded his laboratory the other
,a,. II was a new species, one hitherto
,doscribed, and, of course, it was with
sor,e reluctance that he put it aside to chat
'r;tb a star reporter who wanted to learn
;.boIf an hour what it has taken a corps
- - chemists. with steamships and sailors
md dredging apparatus, years to find out.
RECENT DISCOVERIES.
Until few years ago science knew no
orn Of the forms of life in the ocean
IIip,tbs than it knew of the inhabitants of
Sidrs with peopled these silent sombre
si,,,as with fanciful forms, mermaids, COB
i.ns monsters with eyes of horrid size that
bounted whrlpoOls, guarded wonderful
.raasnres of pearls or held court in SpIen-
Al submarine palaces built of corals and
beq,tiful rocks. Science OF course knew
tbet any mermaid or goblin, or other crea-
49, in tbnCa IantbS
have peculiar organization 20 adapt it to
4be nhvsicaI conditions of life there, and
conld construct perhaps on paper hypo-
tbetical deep-sea fauna. AT first, knowledge
Of fine existence of deep-sea fishes was OBJ
taned from specimens found floating on
Tho surface. fishes that in pursuit of prey
had left their native depths and persisted.
Then deep ca dredges and beam trawl nets
we're called into use. The British expedi-
ron in the Challenger, American eXpedi
lions in the Blake and the Aluatross have
giyen to the world about all that is known
of deep-sea fishes 1t is from the nets of
,ba Blake and Albatross that the bottles
and lars in DR.. Beans laboratory have been
filed
HOW DEEP SEA.FISH ARE CAUGHT.
Americans have made a number of i'm
movements on the apparatus used on the
lions TO send down a dredge or net to
the bottom and haul it up again, was the
work of a whole day on the Challenger and
then if the net did not happen to strike the
bottom right, it would come to the surface
empty. BY the use of wire cable and i'm
proved apparatus for winding the Alba
tross party can make two or three hauls
day. Mr.. Alexander AgassiZ devised a new
beam trawl net that would never miss fire,
or so constructed that on whichever side it
fell it would do effective work. Such net
is lowered from the vessel into the sea. To
the line is attached an apparatus that gives
notice when the net reaches bottom. When
this occurs more line is paid out to give full
scope to the net. Along the line at regular
distances are attached weights that lie at
the bottom. When all is ready the steamer
is slowly backed, until the net has been
dragged distance of a quarter of a mile
or more over the bottom of the ocean. The
weights along the line keep the cable down
against the bottom for some distance in
front Of the net, SO the net is dragged lying
fat on the floor of the sea. When the net
Is hauled up it is sure to contain some fish
from the bottom. The net. has mouth or
opening like the inverted cone of an eel
pot, so that fish easily find their way in;
but once in, cannot find their way out. Oc-
Gasonally fish brought to the surface this
way will be still tremulOus with life, but
most OF them are as dead as a fish can be
as dead as man would be If some fisher
man on the moon cast net to the earth
and dragged him up into the airless spaces
above our atmosphere.
THREE MILES UNDER WATER
Some of these fishes are brought up from
depth of 3 miles. The Challenger cap
tured specimens from depth of 2 900 faith
oms The deep-sea dredging parties of the
United States Fish Commission have gotten
specimens from depth of 2,940 fathoms.
These deep-sea fish are many of them BIZ
Zrre III appearance. One thing contrary
to the fairy notions of the sea depths
Is that there is no great variety or bril-
nancy of color This simplifcation of
colors Is attributed to the absence of sun
Ag1t The colors are generally dark brown
or BACK, or silvery white. The oddness
OF the tlsh is in their shapes aud peculiar
development of their organs. There are
some OF them with huge heads and little
Ooqles; others with tiny skulls, but mouths
50 huge that the lower jaw seems TO be
NVoted IN their stomachs; some with great
ugerlsh-looking teeth; some with immense
round eyes; others with little pin-points of
eyes, and others with no eyes at all. All
u these fish, and $50 different kinds have
Oh the Fish Commission, have long Latin
names. 1t may be said to the credit of the
hsh that they are not responsible for the
names, as they were contented to go with
Ouu names until the Fish Commission net
brought them to the surface.
THEIR PECULIAR SURROUNDINGS.
The structural differences between the
Geep-sea fish and the fish that frequent the
shores or remain near the surface are due
~ Vher peculiar physical surroundings, the
H es OF sunlight, the increased pressure
, ~ water at such great depths and the quiet
stllihess OF the water. AT such depths the
water Is not agitated as it is at the surface
S Si tnlS tavors the development of long,
uiencate tentacles or feelers. These tenta-
J 'a pelp fish in its cropping about the dark
ueptis searching for food When the fish
are brought to the surface most of them
appear to be soft, pulpy masses. The bones
n, Tiu muscles appear to be feebly developed.
me tissues seem thin, weak and easily rup-
Iulel' These conditions, implying muscu-
, ,ri weakness, are apparently inconsistent
, ~,'n !he powerful shape of the jaws and the
demonstrating teeth of some of the pre-
Oaclous fishes.
THE DIFFERENCE OF PRESSURE.
o. ~ must be remembered, though, that at
, ,ue uepth of thousand fathoms the press
Va le upon fish or any other body is equal
va w. a ION to square inch. These fiabby-
ttIIoAlhg fishes that can be tied in knot at
s oue surface at such depths are firm bodied
,nu vigorous. When a fish adapted by or
Sauslzatlon to these depths is brought to the
sui lace frequently their bodies are rim