_
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CORAL REEFS
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167
sea cucumbers most of which live on the surface of. the reef,
where they swallow coral sand and fragments,redueing it to
mud within their bodies, while one kind is said to burrow
like an earthworm (whose habits and importance it so
closely imitates) swallowing the coral rock and throwing
up great casts of pulverised 1imestone.
These animals. are
of many kinds, sizes and colours, attaining to lengths of
over two feet and corresponding thicknesses.
They are so
numerous
on
the Great Barrier Reef of Australia as to
provide the material for an important shery, their dried
‘
bodies, known as bêahe-de-mer, being exported to China,
where they are esteemed as a delicacy.
The importance of
these, and
creatures in the conversion oi coral
limestone into sand and mud is difCult to determine.
A reef of living coral- (Plate 62) is literally a sea garden.
'
The corals themselves are of all colours, many being brown
_
With violet, pink or white polyps, others orange, green or
yellow ; the polyps of some corals are foliaceou_s with long
tentacles while others are velvety masses with tentacles
almost—absent.
And the other animals have colOurs just as
Vivid.
There are many sh of the most varied and brilh‘ant
hues which darthither and thither in little shoals amongst
the trees of the coral forest, there are the many—coloured sea
cucumbers, large tube—worms with
coloured
crowus of tentacles, large Sea anemones, innumerable crabs'
and all manner of other crustaceans, —many of which live
in denite assOciation with the corals, ,a like variety of
'
mouscs and all manner of encrusting organisms such as
'
sea
and sponges. —
_
Reef—building corà.ls can only ourish in shallow water
withinthe tropical zone, being seldom in abundanœ below
.
.
about twenty fathoms and needing a surface temperature
of at least
degrees Fahrenheit, so that they are
‘
con‘ned to a belt extend-ing between thir‘ty degrees north
l
CORAL REEFS
»
167
sea cucumbers most of which live on the surface of. the reef,
where they swallow coral sand and fragments,redueing it to
mud within their bodies, while one kind is said to burrow
like an earthworm (whose habits and importance it so
closely imitates) swallowing the coral rock and throwing
up great casts of pulverised 1imestone.
These animals. are
of many kinds, sizes and colours, attaining to lengths of
over two feet and corresponding thicknesses.
They are so
numerous
on
the Great Barrier Reef of Australia as to
provide the material for an important shery, their dried
‘
bodies, known as bêahe-de-mer, being exported to China,
where they are esteemed as a delicacy.
The importance of
these, and
creatures in the conversion oi coral
limestone into sand and mud is difCult to determine.
A reef of living coral- (Plate 62) is literally a sea garden.
'
The corals themselves are of all colours, many being brown
_
With violet, pink or white polyps, others orange, green or
yellow ; the polyps of some corals are foliaceou_s with long
tentacles while others are velvety masses with tentacles
almost—absent.
And the other animals have colOurs just as
Vivid.
There are many sh of the most varied and brilh‘ant
hues which darthither and thither in little shoals amongst
the trees of the coral forest, there are the many—coloured sea
cucumbers, large tube—worms with
coloured
crowus of tentacles, large Sea anemones, innumerable crabs'
and all manner of other crustaceans, —many of which live
in denite assOciation with the corals, ,a like variety of
'
mouscs and all manner of encrusting organisms such as
'
sea
and sponges. —
_
Reef—building corà.ls can only ourish in shallow water
withinthe tropical zone, being seldom in abundanœ below
.
.
about twenty fathoms and needing a surface temperature
of at least
degrees Fahrenheit, so that they are
‘
con‘ned to a belt extend-ing between thir‘ty degrees north