THE GREAT REEF 



275 



pink anemones, when my feet dislodged a rounded head of 

 brain coral that had long since died and was falling to pieces. 

 Slowly it rolled over and went bounding down the slope. I 

 clawed at the water to keep from following it and turned 

 in time to see it reach the bottom. It landed with an easy 

 bump, rolled once or twice, and came to rest upside down. 

 Then a peculiar incident occurred. Every fish within fifty feet 

 raced to the boulder and began tearing at the upturned base. 

 Still others darted to the trail of the avalanche made visible 

 by a whitish cloud of silt and nibbled at the torn and crushed 

 debris in its path. Carefully, I scrambled down to the fish 

 and thrust my way through their milling bodies. Then I 

 understood. About the base were the crushed bodies of dozens 

 of sea worms whose tube-homes had been torn apart. In a 

 split second these fishes had sensed the disaster to the worms 

 and had come to feed. This gave me an idea. I worked my 

 way back to the base of the reef where I had seen a number 

 of sponges growing, looking for all the world like big black 

 rubber balls. With a bit of a struggle I pulled one loose. In- 

 stantly a writhing six-inch green and scarlet worm shot out 

 of the base and squirmed toward the shelter of another 

 sponge. It did not get three feet. A brilliant red and yellow 

 wrasse darted out of the coral and savagely attacked it. It 

 was joined by another and by a school of small yellow fish 

 which snatched at the crumbs. In this manner I soon became 

 the center of attraction of a whole host of fish which fol- 

 lowed me from sponge to sponge. 



Deceit and subterfuge were farthest from my thoughts 

 when I found a quiet spot between two mounds of brain 

 coral. I had snuggled between them to get out of the reach 

 of swaying current and was just making myself comfortable 

 when to my amazement a piece of the bottom detached itself 

 between my fingers and swam away. I felt much as you would 



