CORAL JUNGLES OF SEA-COW REEF 



the great fish would then upend, — head up, tail 

 straight down in mid-water, and hang there. I 

 w^atched carefully and saw no movement of the 

 jaws although the mouth was open. For several 

 minutes it would remain suspended and then move 

 off to another coral titbit. Many times I have 

 seen these fish push with the pectoral fins, lever- 

 like, against adjacent coral to give them greater 

 wrenching force in breaking it off. During the 

 period of verticality, and internal mastication, if 

 such it was, a school of little wrasse darted out 

 and thoroughly cleaned cheeks, lips, teeth and 

 scales of all particles of organic coral debris, the 

 parrotfish remaining quite motionless all the while. 

 It w^as an aquatic parallel of crocodile and plover, 

 cattle and egret, rhino and tick-bird. 



When we have watched and watched, when we 

 have fished with every imaginable bait and hook, 

 when we have netted and dredged, lured with light 

 and shot with tiny harpoons, then, when finally 

 we still see strange and beautiful fish quite un- 

 known to us, we stoop to pothunter's methods, — 

 securing sticks of dynamite and detonating caps. 



On one of my dives I discovered a coral castle of 

 marvellous beauty. The simile was more than an 

 empty phrase, for in outline, in castellated battle- 

 ments, in turrets and an astonishing mimicry of a 

 draw-bridge the comparison was irresistible. Even 

 more exciting were the tenants, for in addition to 

 the usual demoiselles, butterfly-fish and gobies, 

 there was a school of most exquisite beings. 



147 



