Show BEAUTY ON OCEANS BED V Z A ZM I 1 vl 7 X I 1 coe WK 4 VIN TA A coral garden in the south pacific sea gardens of the tropics are replete with lovely growths growth S prepared by national geographic society washington D C service S ONE sails over the coral A reefs in the tropics in a glass bottomed boat and gazes down at the sea gardens the coral castles of the reef builders are seen to be adorned and surrounded by thickets of waving sea growths that to the uninitiated appear to be a plant vegetation of varied hue and graceful form these are the gorgon ians and far from being plants are in reality animal structures like the cor als they are colonies of polyps but instead of building limestone habitations they have specialized ciali zed in horn or chitin as a building material descending to the ocean bottom to examine the gorgon ians you see that the fernlike plumes the flat lacy fronds of the sea fans and the club shaped branches ot of the sea bushes are alive with close set ranks of tiny expanded polyps tinted green yellow pink or white white myriads of forms extend radiating arms around open mouths hungrily sweeping in their invisible prey the delicate transparent columns which are their bodies rise from openings perforating the branches of their common dwelling places there is no obvious sign of activity yet beneath the outer crust their bodies unite in a network which permeates the entire structure and the microscopic cells of their tissues are ceaselessly engaged in laying down and cementing the central core of flexible and tough horn which supports the entire community beautiful patterns and colors surrounding this inner skeleton the polyps have set in a mosaic of interlocking needles of lime of most delicate workmanship and minute size the whole forming an investment of rich color yonder rises the reddish purple double edged gorg gorgonian onlan its two or three sided branches bordered with long lines of white polyps standing in single file like soldiers it if you remove a small colony of this species from its anchorage among the c oral coral heads and carry it with you up the ladder to the boat you can place a portion of one branch in a dish of sea water under a microscope in a short time the polyps expand and through the magnifying power of your lenses you can see what they are really like at the tip of the b ranch branch several polyps are ful fully I 1 Y open each translucent silvery creature erects itself full length and spreads a circlet of eight tentacles edged with tiny projections this number of tentacles with their ornamentation is characteristic of gorgonian polyps as distinguished from their cousins the corals corald the central circular mouth leads down to the hollow interior of the creature the gorgon ians of the west indian waters are closely related to the famous precious coral which occurs c in the mediterranean and the sea of japan but is entirely lacking in ameri american can coral reefs this species so important in the jewelry trade grows in small branching clusters on the sea bottom in life the coral structure is covered with a brittle outer crust of soft reddish c color bor from which the delicate white polyps protrude C they are quite similar to other gorgonian gorgo I 1 polyps precious coral cora I 1 Is inner core if the crust is removed together with two other concentric whitish layers the he hard inner core is uncovered this is the part that becomes the precious coral of commerce it varies in color from a brilliant scarlet in some specimens specia ens to a delicate r rosy osy pink or even white in others it is capable of taking a high polish and as everyone knows may be carved into beads or other ornaments the relative value of the different shades depends upon the fashion of tile the time A number of years ago the deep scarlet scar let was in favor to be supplanted later by the rose colored coral in popular esteem while reef forming corals corald and gorgo gorgon ians are confined con fined to tropical waters and to comparatively shallow seas not exceeding 20 to 25 fathoms in depth other species which are solitary in habit or that form small colonies grow in deep seas and in a few instances in more northern shallow waters the beautiful is found along the new england coast encrusting cr 1 rocks where the tide flows freely in in patches about the size of ones hand its delicate rosy tints remind one of the terrestrial arbutus again those first cousins of the corals corald the sea an emones adorn tide pools and wharf piles with their colorful beauty along the entire atlantic and pacific coasts while in the tropics their brilliant hues add to the glories of the coral reefs themselves these lowly creatures together with other lime forming organisms associated with them have filled a most important place in determining the geographical and geological features of the globe their massive reefs penetrate the surface of the tropic seas and must be recorded carefully on hydrographic charts for the safety of navigators vast effects ol of tiny creatures their islands dot the southern oceans many of them the abode of men their huge submarine deposits elevated by geologic changes of past ages have been important factors in determining the outline and surface features of continents and have entered into the structure of mountain ranges they have furnished building stones for houses and marble for statuary their disintegrated substance has fertilized fields and grown crops finally washing down to the seas to be worked over again by the ubiquitous polyps for future ages many diverse species of coral composing a reef form structures ever growing higher and higher crowding and becoming entangled with each other in thickets of grotesque and weird beauty the soft colors of their outer surface run through varied hues of rose pink orange tan yellow green blue and purple all the colors of the spectrum these colors are partly due to pigments in the living tissues which invest the surface of the coral limestone skeleton and partly to another interesting phenomenon microscopic marine plants or algae live in the inner tissues of the translucent polyp wall each individual is a disk shaped single cell amber yellow in color they multiply by millions often completely filling the cells of the layer sines since they are plants they use the polyp in which they live and in the presence of sunlight transform it into food for themselves giving forth 0 oxygen axy g C n in the process the lattea hattei gas so essential for animal existence is utilized in turn by the polyp in its vital processes hence there is maintained a partnership between the plant and the animal of equal importance to both gets strong colors from algae if the coral colony happens to be located in strong sunlight the algae multiply with great rapidity giving thi the polyps tissues a deep golden hue this fact accounts for the rich tans and frons of the great elkhorn corals corald that form the extensive exten sivo treelike growths in the andros island reef if the coral is growing in a submarine n nook ook where the sunlight is is weak the algae are relatively few and the coral tissues are seen in their original pigmented color for example the brain coral is naturally green due to the color of its pigment and that is the way it appears in in deeper waters and shaded localities but in moderately illuminated areas the microscopic plant partners are more numerous along the summits its of the sinuous ridges of the coral producing a yellow color in contrast with the g green acen in the winding valleys between them finally brain brai n corals corald located in the brilliant sunshine of the shallows on the top of the reef are so completely impregnated with algae as to appear a deep chocolate brown |