NIGHT BENEATH THE SEA 369 



not the fish I was familiar with. These were merely shapes and 

 shadows, moving wraiths in monotone, or at best momentary 

 gleams of silver or soft pearl gray. All the identifying colors 

 were gone. Blue and red parrotfish, gold and orange snappers 

 and grunts, were toned exactly alike. Only the pale and ap- 

 propriately named moon-fish were instantly recognizable. 

 While I looked one rose from a deep hole, arched slowly 

 through space, reached the summit of its course, and slowly, 

 like its heavenly counterpart, set over a rim of earth. To make 

 the imitation more complete it rotated as it went across the 

 watery sky. At first it appeared new and thin. As its revolving 

 continued it became more and more round, reached the full 

 and finally disappeared as a narrow crescent line. 



Only shape and method of movement were the clues to 

 species and genera. In some cases I had to rely on swimming 

 alone. In the half-hght the bodies of the sergeant-majors and 

 the butterfly-fish looked exactly alike; they were instantly 

 separated by their manner. The sergeant-majors had an inter- 

 mittent bouncing flight with numerous stops and starts; they 

 waved their fins leisurely except when startled. The butter- 

 flies were erratic and vibrated all over when they moved. 

 Angelfish soared, as angels should; the similarly shaped, round- 

 bodied tang floated and drifted. Other types like the needle- 

 fish could best be described as darting arrows; the flying-fish 

 and trumpet-fish also belonged in this category. The snappers, 

 grunts and porgies trailed close to the bottom in a slow un- 

 dulating style, sinuosity their characteristic; still others forged 

 steadily on their paths without hint of slackening pace. Among 

 these last was the large body of a tarpon, possibly the same that 

 leaped in the air when we first- anchored. With a little study I 

 believe most fishes, like birds, could be instantly distinguished 

 by their swimming. 



Several times, however, I was badly fooled, as when the 



