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In the year 1845, Goodsir succeeded in obtaining a good haul in Davis Straits, at a depth of 300 fathoms. It included Mollusca, Crustacea, Asterids, Spatangi, and Corallines.

In 1848, Lieutenant Spratt read a paper at the meeting of the British Association at Swansea, on the influence of temperature upon the distribution of the fauna in the Ægean seas, and at the close of this paper we find the following passage, confirming in a remarkable way the work of previous investigators in the same field. He says: ‘The greatest depth at which I have procured animal life is 390 fathoms, but I believe that it exists much lower, although the general character of the Ægean is to limit it to 300 fathoms; but as in the deserts we have an oasis, so in the great depths of 300, 400, and perhaps 500 fathoms we may have an oasis of animal life amidst the barren fields of yellow clay dependent upon favourable and perhaps accidental conditions, such as the growth of nullipores, thus producing spots favourable for the existence and growth of animal life.’