Chapter Oxpj 

 THE OCEAN AND ITS INHABITANTS 



Ever since the earliest times the ocean has held 

 a fascination for man. At first it was worshipped 

 as a superhuman power, or personified as a god 

 such as the Roman Neptune or the Greek Poseidon. 

 Later man strove to conquer its mysteries and to 

 learn something concerning its great extent, its 

 depth and also the animals and plants that lived 

 beneath its surface. 



By the beginning of the Christian era there 

 had been numerous voyages of discovery and man 

 had become more acquainted with some of the 

 mysteries of the sea. Many strange animals had 

 been collected from various parts of the ocean. 

 About this time the Roman naturalist, Pliny the 

 Elder, compiled a natural history in which he listed 

 176 animals from the ocean. He must have been 

 rather pleased with his work, for he remarked: "By 

 Hercules, there exists nothing in the sea and in the 

 ocean, vast as they are, that is unknown to us, and, a 

 truly marvelous fact, it is with these things that 

 nature has concealed in the deep that we are best 

 acquainted. ' ' 



Today we are not quite so sure that we know 

 all the animals of the ocean. Every expedition to 

 remote parts of the world brings back scores of new 

 species of sea animals and even explorations in 

 waters nearer home frequently bring to light speci- 



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