Some Bathyal Pacific Amphipoda Collected by the U.S.S. Albatross

Abstract

Several bathyal Amphipoda from the U.S.S. "Albatross" expeditions of 1888 onward (Holmes, 1908; Shoemaker, 1925) remained to be determined in the collections of the U.S. National Museum, and the results of their study are presented here. Increasing interest is being shown in faunas on bottoms of 200-2000 m. Although these depths comprise only 8.5% of the world's sea-floor, they perhaps support the remnants of the ancient abyssal fauna occupying depths greater than 2000 m prior to the Tertiary cooling of the seas (Madsen, 1961; Barnard, 1961, 1962; and their bibliographies).