CHAPTER VIII
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Colour and Phosphorewenèe
IN this short chapter we shall consider two of
interesting properties of marine animals, their colour
and the strange power, which many of them possess, of
producing light so that they appear phosphorescent at
night.
Though colour and phosphorescence are not directly
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connected they have this at least in common, that the
production of the former is
inuenced by light
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whereas the latter is concerned with the production of
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light.
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COL_OUR
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In the sea there are animals with as great a wealth and ’
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variety of colour as any that are found- on land,
This
is a fact which people who live in temperate climes are
able to Overlook because our shes have none of the
brilliancy of colour of those from tropic waters, while
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the most beautiful of our marine creatures are anemones
which often lie concealed in rock pools or contracted on
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the sides of rocks while the tide is out, or else small shrimps
and sea Slugs which are known only to the naturalist with
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the knowledge and enthusiasm to search for them.b
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The remarkable property of colour change—whereby
ananimal can change its colour to a greater or less‘ extent,
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usually in order to tone with its background for. the time
'being—is possessed by 3. far greater number of. marine
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than terrestrial animals.
It is especially well developed
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