70
THE SEAS
‘
Fjords, many of which descend abruptly from the shore
down to depths of ve hundred fathoms or more.
Many
'
of the animals taken in the dredge are of extraordinary
interest and beauty, but we can here only refer to a few
representative types.
On rocky bottoms there are masses
of the stony coral, Lophohelia, which forms
.
colonies bearing delicate polyps like orange—owers on a '
yellow bush, with it are often great tree—like growths of the
giant gorgonid, Paragorgia, which is bright scarlet.
Sea
'
pens (Plate‘73) are common on soit bottoms, red, yellow or
brown in colour, and varying in length between a few
inches and a yard or more.
BelOw one hundred and fty
fathoms may be found the big bivalve, Lima excavata, often
six inches long and four or ve inches wide, which has
bright orange tentaCles and esh, the latter being considered
'
a great delicacy by the shermen.
In similar localities the
,
dredge brings up numbers of lamp shells or BrachiopodS,
'
representatives of an extremely old, and probably dying-,
group of animals which have a bivalved shell enclosing the
_
body and hardly to be distinguished by the casual observerfrom the biValve molluscs.
There are, however, many
dierences, the shell valves are unequal in size, have a
'
of hinge and the animal is attached to rocks
by, a small stalk which passes through a hole in the larger
half of the shell. .StarSh and“ brittlestars are exceptionally
abundant,
the
latter
including the ne specimens
’
of
Gorgonocephalus (Plate 28), the long arms of which dividé
and sub-divide to i0rm & writhing mass of tentacles like
.
hair of the Medusa it' has been named after…
Large red
and brown sea cucumbers are very common,
and
also
'
deep-sea sponges some with root—like extensions for anchor'
ing themselves in the mud;and others which grow on rock,
one
such, named Geodia, forming great rounded masses,
‘
often many
feet across, dead white in colour
and
of '
THE SEAS
‘
Fjords, many of which descend abruptly from the shore
down to depths of ve hundred fathoms or more.
Many
'
of the animals taken in the dredge are of extraordinary
interest and beauty, but we can here only refer to a few
representative types.
On rocky bottoms there are masses
of the stony coral, Lophohelia, which forms
.
colonies bearing delicate polyps like orange—owers on a '
yellow bush, with it are often great tree—like growths of the
giant gorgonid, Paragorgia, which is bright scarlet.
Sea
'
pens (Plate‘73) are common on soit bottoms, red, yellow or
brown in colour, and varying in length between a few
inches and a yard or more.
BelOw one hundred and fty
fathoms may be found the big bivalve, Lima excavata, often
six inches long and four or ve inches wide, which has
bright orange tentaCles and esh, the latter being considered
'
a great delicacy by the shermen.
In similar localities the
,
dredge brings up numbers of lamp shells or BrachiopodS,
'
representatives of an extremely old, and probably dying-,
group of animals which have a bivalved shell enclosing the
_
body and hardly to be distinguished by the casual observerfrom the biValve molluscs.
There are, however, many
dierences, the shell valves are unequal in size, have a
'
of hinge and the animal is attached to rocks
by, a small stalk which passes through a hole in the larger
half of the shell. .StarSh and“ brittlestars are exceptionally
abundant,
the
latter
including the ne specimens
’
of
Gorgonocephalus (Plate 28), the long arms of which dividé
and sub-divide to i0rm & writhing mass of tentacles like
.
hair of the Medusa it' has been named after…
Large red
and brown sea cucumbers are very common,
and
also
'
deep-sea sponges some with root—like extensions for anchor'
ing themselves in the mud;and others which grow on rock,
one
such, named Geodia, forming great rounded masses,
‘
often many
feet across, dead white in colour
and
of '