22 THE WEALTH OF THE SEA 



not plants but animals related to the starfishes. As 

 their name indicates, however, they are plant-like in 

 appearance, having a long- jointed calcareous stem, 

 supported in the ooze by root-like branches. The top 

 is capped with what has the appearance of an in- 

 verted starfish. The fossil forms of sea-lilies are very 

 abundant, showing that they once existed in enor- 

 mous numbers. Evidently they are dying out, for 

 of the two hundred genera, which are known to have 

 formerly inhabited the ocean, only twelve still remain. 



One of the most important facts established by 

 modern oceanographer^ is that there is no region of 

 the sea that is entirely devoid of life. Wherever the 

 trawl or dredge is used, some representatives of the 

 various classes of marine animals are found. The 

 shallow waters of the coasts, and the greatest depths 

 of the ocean, the dense warm waters of the Mediter- 

 ranean and Red seas, the cold and comparatively 

 fresh waters of the Norwegian fiords, the surface 

 waters of the equatorial seas, and the cold waters 

 in the depths of the Arctic, all contain characteristic 

 forms of living creatures. 



The ocean, however, resembles the land in exhib- 

 iting so many varying conditions that the animals 

 which characterize one region dre absent from 

 another. In some places animal and plant life is 

 abundant, while in others it is very scarce. When we 

 ascend great mountains the vegetation and animals 

 change with increasing altitudes. Broad belts of 

 approximately equal temperature have the same 

 species of plants and animals. As might be expected, 

 it is much the same with various depths of the ocean. 



