Arizona republican., 1892-09-03
BELOW OCEAN WAVES
LIFE AT GREAT AND ALMOST UN-
 FATHOMA6LE DEPTHS.

Strange and Startling Structures of the
 Denizens of the Deep--Crea Way
 Down Have Been Crowded from the
 Surface of the Sea.
 For a century or more naturalists have known great deal concerning the marine organisms which dwell in the shallow water next the shore. They long ago learned the amazing richness of these littoral forms. The census of species amounts now to more than 100, GOO distinct forms; it is, however, of late that they have ascertained that the deep- CT parts of the ocean floors have also an abundant and varied peopling. The greater part of these shore dwellers are exceedingly intolerant of the enormous pressure of the deeper waters. as we'll as of the low temperature and total dark ness which exists there.
 Certain forms have, however, acquired the ability to withstand these peculiar conditions, as generation by generation through the geologic ages they have crept away from the realms of fierce combat next the shores to the less con tested fields of the open and deeper seas. Through all the geologic ages this selection of especially prepared groups for the singular stations or hab- its of the ocean depths has been going on, with the result that those dark and pressure burdened regions are now ten anted by eminently peculiar animals, by species which ever surprise the stu dent who is accustomed alone to the forms which dwell near the shore
 One of the most striking features con nected with the animals of the deep seas is the frequency with which we find their living specimens which remind us of kinds which in former geologic periods dwelt in the coastal districts of the oceans It seems that many of these ancient creatures, when they could no longer hold tseir own against the more highly organized and developed animals which inhabited the favored stations next the shores, shrunk away into the deep water, and in that undesired part of the world found an asylum, where, amid the changeless environment, they
 
 have dwelt for ages unaltered. Thus the vast profounds of the deep have be- come sort of almshouse, whereunto antiquated forms have retired before the overwhelming pressure which the newer and higher life ever imposes on its ancestors.
 From the results of the relatively tri- fling explorations which have yet been made, there seems good reason to hope that in time we may win from the deep the nearest living representations of many creatures which once occupied a large place in the seas, but now have abandoned the fields of more active com bat, which are usually the seat of the greatest advance.
 In the profounder seas the heinvertebrate life appears to have larger share than is secured by the vertebrate or back boned animals; yet there are number of fishes known in these depths, and it seems likely that these tenants of the deep may be numbered by thousands of species. Among the filmed tenants of the profounder parts of the ocean we find the most startling departures from the types with which we are familiar in coastal waters. In general shape they differ little from their kindred which dwell in the sunlit shallows.
 The differences are largely in the mechanism of the senses, especially of the eyes. These organs undergo sur prising variations with reference to the enduring of the darkness of these deeps. In certain of the species the sight not only fails, but the visual apparatus en- tirely disappears; in others the eyeball becomes very much enlarged and the nervous apparatus incrassated, and are evidently arranged to catch mere gimp ses of the light. As it is certain that no trace of sunlight can ever penetrate through the deep which overlies the realm where these animals dwell, the adaptation of these eyes to the needs of different vision at first appeared to be very inexplicable matter.
 Some recent discoveries provide us with what seems to be an adequate ex- planation of the enigma. It has been found that certain of the denizens of the deep sea floors have phosphorescent parts of their bodies which serve to give light in a manner in which it is yielded by the familiar frefiies and glowworms.
 The end secured by these light giving parts is probably the attraction of the sexual mates of the creatures. In the utter darkness of the ocean this indis- pensable end could be attained in no other way.-Professor N. s. Shaler in Scribner's.