The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-08-05
MONSTERS or TIE DEEP
Bottom OF the Pacific
Ocean.

ocean between the coast of Califor-
MIA and the Hawaiian islands has
been one Of the most interesting
scientific tasks ever undertaken by
the government. Up to date moth
ing has been allowed to be pub
lished respecting the results OBJ
tanned. The purpose of the work
was to determine the best route for
a submarine cable. Two lines Of
soundings were run by the United
States fish commissions steamer
Albatross from Monterey bay to
Honolulu. This path has been de-
cided on as preferable to road
connecting Point Conception, Cal,
and Hilo Bay, Hawaii, which was
laid out with soundings by the
steamer Thetis, L. S. n. The way
selected will require the smallest
length of wire. 1t will pass over
an even bottom of soil favorable for
the protection and preservation of
the cable, avoiding submarine
mountains.
Incidentally to the soundings,
observations were made of the bot
tom temperature. Below half
mile in depth the water of the
ocean is intensely cold, remaining
both winter and summer at point
only slightly above freezing. The
contents of trawl hauled up from
the floor of the sea at the equator
Will be found to contain mud and
ooze that is nearly freezing. All of
the life in the vast waste Of waters
called the Pacific is either near the
surface or at the bottom. The
abyssal fishes cannot live except
under the enormous pressure of
water-amounting to over two tons
to the square inch at three miles
down-to which they are subject.
In order that they may be able to
endure this the tissues of their
bodies, and even their bones, are
very Loose in texture. Though
solid enough under the conditions
to which they are accustomed, they
are soft and pulpy when dragged
up to the open air. Their eyes
protrude, and sometimes they
actually burst open.
Such fierce carniverous fishes as
exists in the depth of the ocean are
unknown at the surface. There is
the "black swallower," which de-
yours other fnny creatures ten
times as big as itself, Utterly climb
ing over it's victim, first with one
jaw and then with the other. An
other specie is nearly all mouth,
and having almost no power of
locomotion, it lives buried in the
soft ooze at the bottom, its head
alone protruding ready to engulf
any prey that may wander into it's
cavernous jaws. There is a fero-
cious kind of shark resembling a
huge eel. All of these abyssal
monsters are black as ink. Some
of them are perfectly blind, while
others have enormous goggling
eyes. No ray of sunlight ever
pierces the dark unfathomed caves
in which they dwell. Each spe-
cies is gobbled up by the species
next bigger, for there is no vege-
table life to feed on.
The surface of the grayish ooze,
over which the cable will run, is
an interminable desert where moth
ing grows. There being no sun
light to support vegetable life, not
blade or sprout of any sort OF
vegetation is to be discovered mot
even a seaweed. Here and there
are creatures called "crinoids'
which counterfeit plants in their
appearance, with waving stems and
what looks like flowers, but are not
such. Also there are sea worms,
which live in tubes and resemble
the most brilliant blossoms. Spiny
sea urchins are plentiful, and over
the bottom are crawling sshrimr
like crustaceans of bright scarlet
and vivid orange hues, some of
them Of great size. There are
numerous species of mollusks as
well. They and the crusticeans,
when hauled to the surface, are sc
disorganized by the removal of the
pressure to which they have been
accustomed, as to look as if they
had been boiled.
The ocean floor across which the
cable will be laid is fairly well
populated with living species, most
of which are unknown TO science
at present. This remark especi'
ally applies to the larger fishes
which could not be fetched up with
the trawl. Some day perhaps q
more effective method will BE de
vised for capturing them. Nobody
can tell what monsters and chi
meras dire may inhabit the abyssa
regions of the Pacific. 1t was only
a few years ago that Captain Geo.
Hope of H. NJ. S. Fly saw an ex
traordinary creature in the gulf o
California. The sea being per
fectly calm and of a glass liil,
transparency he beheld swimming
over the bottom a few fathom:
down an enormous animal with thu