Abstract
III.
AN enormous addition has been made to the list of British Echinodermata by the discovery in our own seas of á number of species which had been previously known only as Norwegian or Arctic; and these often occurred in extraordinary abundance. One of the most interesting of these was the large and beautiful feather-star, the Antedon (Comatida) Eschrichtii, hitherto known only as inhabiting the shores of Greenland and Iceland, but now found over all parts of our cold area. On the other hand, the influence of temperature was marked not only by the absence of many of the characteristically southern types of this group, but by the dwarfing of others to such an extent that the dwarfed specimens might be regarded as specifically distinct, if it were not for their precise conformity in structure to those of the ordinary type. Thus the Solaster papposa was reduced from a diameter of six-inches to two, and had never more than ten rays, instead of from twelve to fifteen; and Asterocanthion violaceus and Cribella oculata were reduced in like proportion. But, in addition, several echinoderms have been obtained which are altogether new to science, most of them of very considerable interest. The discovery, at the depth of 2,435 fathoms, of a living crinoid of the Apiocrinite type, closely allied to the little rhizo.crinus (the discovery of which by the Norwegian naturalists was the starting-point of our own deep-sea explorations), but generically differing from it, cannot but be accounted a phenomenon of the greatest interest alike to the zoologist and the palaeontologist. Another remarkable representative of a type supposed to have become extinct, occurred at depths of 440 and 550 fathoms in the warm area; being a large echinidan of the diadema kind, the “test” of which is composed of plates separated from one another by membrane, instead of being connected by suture, so as to resemble an armour of flexible chain-mail, instead of the inflexible cuirass with which the ordinary echinida are invested. This type bears a strong resemblance to the very singular fossil from the white chalk, described by the late Dr. S. P. Woodward, under the name of Echinothuria floris. Specimens were also obtained, both in the first and third cruises, of a most interesting clypeastroid, which is closely allied to the infulaster-specially characteristic of the later chalk.* These constitute only a sample of the interesting novelties belonging to this group, which our explorations brought to light.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
CARPENTER, W. On the Temperature and Animal Life of the Deep Sea* . Nature 1, 563–566 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1038/001563a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/001563a0