ABNORMAL CONDITIONS 231 



"coloured agiiaje" — as apart from the normal blue and green of the current — is usually 

 red or yellow and is associated with warm water. Water which is the most coloured is 

 said to show most movement; it sometimes attains great intensity and each time it 



Fig. 71. Santa Elena and the Gulf of Guayaquil. Track of the ship, July 30-August 2. From St. WS 71 5 to 7 19 course maintained 270°. 



reaches the beach, becomes redder, forming eddies by the shore. The fish, and especially 

 corvina, collect in these eddies. When aguaje draws off, the fish remain stupefied near the 

 beach and with them all other fish with their food — shrimps, octopuses, other molluscs, 

 sea urchins, and various other animals. Red aguaje may go away leaving the water 

 frothy. Fishermen say that fish washed up on the beach are poisonous and produce a 



