THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



to adapt itself to any background upon which it is placed. 

 What then must be the ingenuity, the wonderful crafts- 

 manship, displayed in the construction of the colour- 

 changing mechanisms of the shrimps and prawns of the 

 Gharybdis? For they can change colour — using a far 

 greater variety of shades than the chameleon — and much 

 more quickly: the shell of any of the creatures may 

 be one colour at one moment, then, in an instant, it has 

 assumed a different one. 



Many of the crustaceans in the Strait have flower-like 

 patches on them suggesting varieties of flowers which 

 grow on land, such as asters, carnations, etc. Nowhere in 

 the world is violence and turbulence so intimately 

 associated with beauty as in the Gharybdis whirlpools. 



Another queer creature found here is the silver hatchet- 

 fish. It has bulging eyes, set closely together in a head 

 that is actually transparent, and the lenses of its eyes are 

 telescopic. Silvery pigment makes the animal's sides blaze 

 with a tinsel-like eflfect. Seen from below, the hatchet-fish 

 shows only as a narrow blade studded with brilliant 

 lights. Strangely enough, these luminous patches point 

 downward, and cannot be seen from above the fish. 



To get an accurate impression of the hatchet-fish's 

 "lamps" as they are carried under its belly, one must 

 think of a section of Indian corn, for they are packed 

 together in two rows much resembling such a section. 



Myriads of tiny crab-like creatures, any one of which 

 could hide beneath a grain of rice, busy themselves in the 

 waters of the Gharybdis. During night fishing in the 

 Messina district the boats carry lights, and the tiny 

 crustaceans fly across the water in all directions, attracted 

 by the lights, and forming interlacing lightning streaks 

 on the sea's surface. They are attracted by anything 

 luminous: a fact which indicates the purpose of the 

 ''lamps" carried by the hatchet-fishes, which consume the 

 tiny crustaceans in enormous quantities. 



There is one fascinating creature of the genus Cyclothone 



94 



