210 DAHLAK 



but some were taken by surprise and went flopping here and 

 there with me behind them, kicking. Finally a small wave 

 came to my assistance and with a well-placed shot I scored. 

 Two tiddlers landed on the beach and I followed with a 

 goalie's dive. 



For the uninitiated, tropical waters mean sharks and octo- 

 puses. Octopuses are the second essential theme of travel 

 books, novels and films dealing with coral reefs and the 

 *South Seas'. It is therefore mortifying to confess that there is 

 barely half an octopus in the Red Sea. It is sad but true. 



This might at first seem strange, because the neighbouring 

 waters of the Indian Ocean appear to be full of these kraken. 

 But it must be emphasized that even the insignificant small 

 octopuses are rarely found. (The writer saw the only 'giant' 

 octopus of his life — perhaps forty pounds — in Calabria.) In 

 the course of our explorations we searched intently for at 

 least one small example of these cephalopods — but in vain. 

 I had hoped to find some when I examined the Italian ship 

 Urania, scuttled in Ghubbet Mus Nefit during the last war 

 to save it from the hands of the British. This enormous ship 

 lies on its side near the coast in about thirty to sixty feet of 

 water. A great deal of the bridge and port side is out of the 

 water. Enza and Raimondo Bucher, Folco, Giorgio and I 

 gave the entire construction a good look-over. It was an 

 impressive sight. The plating that had been twisted by the 

 explosion was covered with gorgeous coral fungi and iri- 

 descent molluscs slithered across it. Coral fish swam like 

 butterflies over a ruined temple. I looked for my octopus in 

 all this glory, but remained empty-handed. 



We do not know if previous expeditions to the Red Sea 

 found octopuses, but we do know that the recent French 



