The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 04 (of 10)Warburton, Cecil
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 04 (of 10)
Warburton, Cecil
Animals
A few of the more interesting features in connection with the
distribution of fresh-water Crustacea have now been touched upon. With
regard to the origin of this fauna, we can see that a number of the
species are comparatively recent immigrants from the sea, working their
way up the estuaries of rivers, a proceeding which can be observed to be
taking place to-day in a district like the Broads of Norfolk. Others,
again, but these are few, appear to be true relict marine animals left
stranded in arms of the sea that have been cut off from the main ocean,
and have been gradually converted into fresh-water lakes and seas. Such
are, perhaps, _Mysis relicta_ and the rich Gammarid fauna of Lake
Baikal, a lake that, in the presence of Seals, Sponges, and other marine
forms, has clearly retained some of the characters of the ocean from
which it was derived. The majority of the fresh-water species, however,
have probably been evolved _in situ_, and their origin from marine
ancestors is lost in an obscure past. The Crustacean fauna of the
Caspian Sea[177] shows us in an interesting manner the effects of
isolation and changes in salinity, etc., on the inhabitants of a basin
which once formed part of the ocean. The waters of the Caspian Sea are
not fresh, but they are on the average about one-third as salt as that
of the open ocean. The Crustacea, described by Sars, belong to
undoubtedly marine groups, _e.g._ the Mysidae, Cumacea, and Amphipoda
Crevettina, but the remarkable feature of these Caspian Crustacea is the
great variety of peculiar species representing marine genera which are
very poorly represented in the sea, thus indicating that the variety of
the fauna is not due to a great variety of species having been shut up
in the Caspian Sea to begin with, but rather that, after the separation
from the sea, the isolated species began to vary and branch out in the
most luxuriant way—whether from lack of competition or owing to the
changing conditions of salinity it is difficult to say. As an example,
the Cumacea of the Caspian Sea are ten in number, all belonging to
peculiar genera related to _Pseudocuma_, except one species which is
included in that genus. These Caspian forms make up the Family
Pseudocumidae, which contains in addition only two marine forms of the
genus _Pseudocuma_ (see p. 121). A very similar condition is found in
the numerous Amphipods of the Caspian Sea. Considering the enormous
changes that must have taken place in the distribution of land and water
even during Tertiary times, it is astonishing that the fresh waters of
the world do not contain more species in common with the ocean, but it
must be considered that the limited area and comparatively uniform
conditions of fresh-water lakes and streams would only permit a limited
number of these forms to survive which could most easily adapt
themselves to the changed conditions. And these would in all probability
be the littoral species that were in the habit of passing up into the
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