2MASS photometry of edge-on spiral galaxies. I. Sample and general
  results
  A sample of edge-on spiral galaxies aimed at a study of the main structural
and photometric parameters of edge-on galaxies both of early and late types is
presented. The data were taken from the 2MASS in the J, H and K_s filters. The
sample consists of 175 galaxies in the K_s-filter, 169 galaxies in the H-filter
and 165 galaxies in the J-filter. We present bulge and disc decompositions of
each galaxy image. All galaxies have been modelled with a Sersic bulge and
exponential disc with the BUDDA v2.1 package.
  The main conclusions of our general statistical analysis of the sample are:
  (1) The distribution of the apparent bulge axis ratio q_b for the subsample
with n < 2 can be attributed to triaxial, nearly prolate bulges that are seen
from different projections, while n > 2 bulges seem to be oblate spheroids with
moderate flattening.
  (2) For the sample galaxies, the effective radius of the bulge r_{e,b}, the
disc scalelength h and the disc scaleheight z_0 are well correlated. However,
there is a clear trend for the ratio r_{e,b}/h to increase with n.
  (3) There is a hint that the fundamental planes of discs, which links only
disc parameters and the maximum rotational velocity of gas, are different for
galaxies with different bulges.
  (4) The investigation of the Photometric Plane of sample bulges shows that
the plane is not flat and has a prominent curvature towards small values of n.
For bulges this fact was not noticed earlier.
  (5) The clear relation between the flattening of stellar discs h/z_0 and the
relative mass of a spherical component, including a dark halo, is confirmed not
for bulgeless galaxies but for galaxies with massive bulges. (Abridged)
