84 THE SEA SHORE 



that they are very much like tiny lobsters. 

 Indeed, if you could magnify a prawn to the 

 size of a lobster, or reduce a lobster to the size 

 of a prawn, it really would not be very easy to 

 tell the one from the other. 



But you will be surprised to see how different 

 live prawns look from the dead ones which you 

 may see in a fishmonger's shop. The fact is 

 that, like the lobster, they change colour when 

 they are boiled. When they are alive, indeed, 

 they hardly have any colour at all, and are nearly 

 transparent. That is why it is so difficult to 

 see them in the water. And if you keep them 

 in an aquarium, all that you can see of them, 

 very often, as they dart to and fro is just their 

 glowing eyes, which gleam in the water like 

 tiny balls of fire. 



There are two facts about prawns which I am 

 sure you will be interested to know. 



The first is that they are extremely useful 

 little creatures, for they feed upon the bodies 

 of the various small animals which die in the sea, 

 and so prevent them from becoming putrid and 

 poisoning the water. And the second is that 

 they always take the greatest possible care to 

 keep themselves clean. If you take a few live 

 prawns home, and put them in an aquarium, 

 you may often see them performing their toilets. 

 Their front legs are covered with stiff little hairs 

 which stand out at right angles, so that these 



