DEEP-SEA FAUNA. 137 



but little change in adapting themselves to their 

 strange environment. 



We may commence our study of this remark- 

 able Fauna by a few remarks on their colour. 

 The first and most striking feature is that the 

 animals are almost invariably uniform in colour. 

 If they are dark-brown they are dark-brown all 

 over, if they are red they rarely exhibit bands of 

 white or spots of blue. Moreover, they are 

 not always in harmony with the colour of their 

 surroundings. 



In the shallow waters the animals that live 

 among the green Sea- weeds are green, those that 

 live on the sand are coloured like the sand, and 

 many of those that live among the rocks are 

 darkly pigmented with black and blue. In 

 the abyss of the ocean, where there is any light 

 at all, the colour is, in all probability, fairly uni- 

 form over wide tracts, and yet we may find in one 

 haul of the dredge, black Fish, red Crustaceans, 

 and purple Trepangs. 



There seems to be no particularly predominant 

 colour among the deep-sea animals. Most of 

 the Fish are black or dark brown, but many 

 are light violet, some are pale rose and 

 others bright red. Among the Crustaceans 

 bright red seems to be the prevailing shade, 

 just as the darker tints of black and brown are 

 among the Fish. 



Among the Echinoderms we find white, purple, 

 yellow, red, and pink forms, and among the Jelly- 

 fish and Corals, red, violet, and green. In fact 

 it would be necessary to describe every class of 

 animals in turn, and then almost every genus in 



