NUMBER VIII 

 THE INTERNAL ECONOMY OF THE SEA 



NO one can forget the first sight of a big catch 

 laid out for sale at one of our chief fishing 

 ports. There are tons and even miles of fishes, 

 which not long ago represented enormous locomotor 

 power in the sea, and will soon be transformed into 

 likewise enormous, though reduced, power of muscle - 

 work and brain- work on land. The sweepings go 

 to feed cattle and to fertilize the ground, and the 

 total supply is in such abundance that we stand 

 wondering at its continuance from day to day, 

 year in year out. What happens in the vast 

 economy of the sea ? Who are the producers, 

 the consumers, and the middlemen ? 



The Producers 



The producers of the wealth of the sea are the 

 chlorophyll-possessing organisms, most of which are 

 indubitable plants, though a few incline to the 

 animal persuasion. Of the plants there are two 

 great groups : (a) the minute Algae of the upper 

 layers of the open sea, and (6) the sea-grass, the 

 larger seaweeds, and the attendant minute plants, 



50 



