6. COLLECTION AND PREPARATION 



OF CORALS 



WHILE THE collection of coral speci- 

 mens from the outer reef involves the 

 use of a boat and necessitates diving, 

 a great number of coral species may 

 be collected by simply wading in 

 shallow water in appropriate localities. A glass bot- 

 tomed bucket is a useful aid in finding specimens, 

 particularly when there is sufficient wind to make the 

 water choppy. Most of the corals found in shallow 

 water are loose or only lightly attached to the under- 

 lying rock. The larger reef corals are firmly cemented 

 to the bottom and a tire lever or crowbar is required 

 to break them off, or to pry loose portions small enough 

 to handle. Some of these are found in quite shallow 

 water but the majority occur in the deeper water of 

 the outer reef. While some of them, particularly the 

 branching forms may be broken loose with a strong, 

 multiple pronged grapnel the most satisfactory method 

 is to dive to the bottom and collect the specimens by 

 hand. An open diving helmet of the simplest type will 

 suffice, and even this may be dispensed with by a good 

 swimmer, equipped with one of the face masks now 

 obtainable in sporting goods stores at most seaside cities. 

 From what has been said in Chapter 1 it will be 

 realized that corals are very sensitive to their surround- 

 ings. Some species are more sensitive than others and 

 are virtually restricted to a definite type of locality. 

 Others, more hardy, are found over a wider range of 



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