Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-25
THALASSAGRA
A New Branch of Science That is In
teresting to Everybody.
LIFE ON THE SEA FLOOR
What Sort Of Creatures Inhabit the Bottom
of the Oceans-They Are Queer Enough
to Mako . Study of Them Most Interest
ing.


greatly increased of recent years, owing to
development Of improved apparatus for max
| ing soundings and fishing up from the
deepest watery abysses specimens of the Great
ures inhabiting them. Until very lately no
| knowledge worth mentioning was had respect
ing the formation of the sea bottoms, and only
the widest guesses were entertained as to the
number of vertical miles of brine covering
them. Attempts at exploring the marine
world were made with no better appliances
than hempen ropes and sinkers, science not
having as yet devised the modern dredge and
drag net or thought of employing plumb lines
OF piano wire. Thalassagraphy. as a branch of
research, is entirely new and a more fascinat-
ing subject for study it is impossible to i'm
agine. How delightful to be able to map out
those portions of the earths surface. com
| prising by far the major part of the planet s
area. which mankind hitherto has never been
able to investigate or learn about, obtaining
| incidentally an acquaintance with the fauna
and flora OF the mysterious aqueous realms !!
What can be more charming than to read of
the cruises of the Challenger, the Blake and
other vessels In pursuit of this novel informa-
ton. with the stories told in their reports of
the extraordinary animals and vegetables
which they hauled up from the depths?
HOW 1T Is DONE.
The proper equipment for investigating the
life of the ocean depths includes ''dredge,"
which is a net inclosed in a wooden frame for
dragging over the bottom, with a number of
great tails of raveled rope attached. While
the net captures such fishes and many other
creatures as may be in the way, the rope tails
trailing behind the dredge entangle all sorts os
star fish, sea urchins, crabs. corals fans and
sponges. Thus the continuance is hauled to
the surface filed with every kind of living
things that may be found below. In water of
moderate depth useful appliance is found in
trawl net that travels over the bottom on run
ners. However, the object of this sort of re-
search is to find and secure specimens not only
of the fauna of the great depths, but also of
all other marine animals. The surface of the
ocean on calm days swarms with mollusks
crustacea, sea urchins, jelly fish, sponges fora
minifera and the like These are gathered
usually by means of fine net of gauze towed
behind boat moving quite slowly. At the
least ripple Of wind they sink out of reach of
disturbance by the waves to a depth of 100 to
$50 fathoms. When they die their remains
slowly find their way to the bottom to serve as
food for the deep-water animals.
DREARY WASTE.
Fifty years ago it was believed that animal
life in the ocean was limited to the surface not
extending below 800 fathoms, beneath which
no living forms existed of any sort whatsoever
Such, however, is very far from being the case
Undoubtedly the desolation OF the scenery in
the submarine depths must be extreme. The
most barren OF landscapes must seem diversified
when compared with the vast expanse of gray
or greenish ooZa which covers the deeper bot
! toms of the seas, the monotony Of the pros.
pect being only relieved by the never-ceasing
fall OF the dead carcasses of surface creatures.
But there is plenty Of life in shapes Of great
variety, although upon the ocean floor it is not
found in the same abundance as along the sub
aqueous slopes of the continents. where long
stretches of bottom are carpeted by the most
brilliantly colored creatures. The absence of
plants in deep water must render the aspect Of
things indeseribably dreary, the place Of luxu-
RANT forests with their accompanying UNDER
brush. and inhabitants being only indifferently
supplied by large growths Stimulating the veg
etable though in reality animal, and huge cutie
fishes, or nearer shore by sea weeds and forests
OF giant kelp. In imagination one may observe
the contrast as he would pass in a journey from
the shore over the richly populated continental
slope and down toward the ocean floor, the
teeming fauna of the littoral regions gradually
diminishing, as it fades into the calm. cold and
dark abysses beyond, where few living creatures
dwell save fierce carnivorous fishes, some Of
them blind and others with huge goggling eyes,
alert for prey.
aLIMPsEs OF FAUNA AND FLORA.
In deep-sea explorations are obtained for the
first time glimpses Of the fauna and fora of
nearly three-quarters Of the earth's surface,
concerning which little was known few wears
ago. 1t had been imagined that the abysses of
ocean would be the safest of all retreats In
which animals surviving from former geolog-
ical periods must in all likelihood be found
Nevertheless dredging has not brought to light
very many OF such ancient types If any of the
monsters of vanished epochs remains Of which
have excited the wonder of this age, still linger
in these depths it is not probable that any of
them will be brought up, for the obvious reason
that the trawl or dredge can hardly capture
creatures of such vast bigness We're it not for
the power Of emitting light, with which deep
sea animals are 80 commonly gifted they would
pass their hives altogether i'll the dark, mas
much as no ray of the sun is able to penetrate
the water below 100 fathoms. Not only do the
mollusks and sea urchins of the deep produce
light of themselves. but the abyssal fishes have
usually the same advantage in common with
many other forms. 1t may very well be that
the lnky caves Of ocean are continually and
most beautifully Illuminated by forests of phos-
phorescent alcyOnarians, through which the
fnny monsters of those mysterious regions
pass in endless torchlight professions, some
bearing brilliant f1ambeaux on their heads and
others cleaning with rows of spots like bulls
eyes on their sides. calculated to attract prev
as well as to afford light. Beyond depth Of
500 tathoms the marine fauna exhibits new
types of development. The fishes begin to have
enormous eyes, for the purpose OF absorbing
every available ray; their bodies are slender
and their skeletons become much softer.
NEAR THE SURFACE OR AT THE BOTTOM.
Scientific investigation has established the
fact beyond question that the animals OF the
deep seas live either near the surface or at
the bottom. there being no intermediate fauna.
The creatures which live in such countless
numbers near the surface that they may be
said to form a fairly dense layer over all the
ocean never sink further than is necessary to
escape disturbance by the waves above, while
the fishes, cfustacea and mollusks that dwell in
the depths are obliged to remain there, both
for the sake of browsing at the bottom for food
and because their structure is such that they
could not exist at all in the higher aqueous
strata. Their bodies are composed of such
loose tissues. permeated with water their very
bones being soft. that they require the tre-
mendous pressure OF the depths sometimes as
much as two tons to the square inch, to keep
them together, as it were. When dragged to
the surface their eyes are usually starting
from their heads. their swimming bladders are
found projecting from their mouths and thew
are very apt to Immediately fly to pieces before
they can be examined. As for the mollusks and
other forms similarly brought from the lower
deep, they come up 80 disorganized as to look
as II they had been boiled.
Necessarily there can be no life in the ocean
save where there is food for it to subsist upon.
and thus all the living creatures arc either
preying upon each other in the swarms near