66 THE FAUNA OF THE DEEP SEA 



Biinodes were of a deep violet. Actinauge-like forms 

 with tentacles of a pinkish-violet tinge frequently 

 have the column of a yellow shade. The Zoanthidae 

 were greyish-green.' And again, in his narrative of 

 the voyage of the ' Blake,' he records that ' some of 

 the deep-sea corals are scarlet, deep flesh-coloured, 

 pinkish orange, and of other colours,' and in referring 

 to the Gorgonian Iridogorgia he says : ' The species 

 are remarkable for their elegance of form and for the 

 brilliant lustre and iridescent colours of the axis, in 

 some of a bright emerald green, in others like bur- 

 nished gold or mother-of-pearl.' 



The fauna of the deep sea then, taken as a whole, 

 is not characterised by the predominance of any one 

 colour. The shades of red occur rather more fre- 

 quently than they do in the fauna of any other zone 

 or region, but whether this is in any way connected 

 with the fact that red is the complementary colour to 

 that of the phosphorescent light, in which many of 

 these animals live, it is at present difficult to say ; 

 it is possible that, when we have further information 

 concerning the colours of the animals living in the 

 deeper parts of the Neritic zone, another explana- 

 tion may be forthcoming. 



Moseley points out that there are no blue animals 



