THEGREATREEF 287 



and like those ornaments, it was pierced with carved grottoes 

 at the base. One of the grottoes held a soHd culture of the 

 most immense tang I have ever seen. All the ichthyological 

 textbooks place the size limit on tang at about twelve inches; 

 none of those in the grotto were less than sixteen inches and 

 some were closer to eighteen, with all due allowance for the 

 refraction of the water. The tang were packed like the pro- 

 verbial sardines and were all aligned in the same position, 

 facing the entrance. This gave them the most ridiculous ap- 

 pearance. Tang are very round and flat but are highly com- 

 pressed in a vertical direction, and when they are examined 

 head on they seem to be only thin vertical hues. When I first 

 saw them all I could discern was a large number of dark blue 

 streaks out of which peered twice the number of golden 

 brown eyes and an equal number of pale whitish lips. The 

 tang were slowly opening and closing these lips as though 

 eternally, and soundlessly, mouthing the word "oh" over and 

 over again. I tried to make them desert their shelter but they 

 would not be moved. Even when I thrust my leg squarely 

 into their packed bodies, they only glided slightly to one side 

 and then closed ranks again. These were evidently resting, 

 for there seemed to be no other reason to congregate in this 

 sheltered nook, though there may have been. We know so 

 little about the habits and behavior of undersea creatures. 



My life line began jerking and I was nearly dragged from 

 my feet. Turning to gaze back I saw that I had reached the 

 end of my tether, the entire coil of the air hose had been 

 used up. Following its twisting course I crept back toward 

 the reef. It seemed very far away, a glimmering line of fan- 

 tastic tan trees poised on the very edge of the drowned cliff. 

 Even as I looked a great school of yellow snappers rushed 

 out from between the massive trunks, rank after rank, file 

 after file of them, and poured like a flood into the depths. At 



