188 



THE OPAL SEA 



Polyps, sea 

 anemones, 

 and corals. 



yet there is intermingled with them life in 

 other forms even more remarkable, even more 

 beautiful in hue. 



Nothing in the sea excels in delicacy and va- 

 riety of color the polyps and the jelly fishes 

 belonging to the large branch, Coelenterata. 

 All the tints that may be wrung from the spec- 

 trum are blended in sea anemones, coral, and 

 MeduscB. The sea anemone is attached by a 

 stalk to a ledge or a rock, and the polyp within 

 gathers food from the passing currents with 

 tentacles that seem ceaselessly waving, clasp- 

 ing and unclasping. They resemble flowers 

 (asters in particular), though they take many 

 forms and put on patterned colors that are 

 astonishing enough. Coral is produced by a 

 similar if smaller polyp, living in a small cell 

 of limestone made from his own secretions. 

 The stony deposit is in all colors — orange, scar- 

 let, purple, green — and in all forms — branched, 

 fan-shaped, sprayed, arched, rounded. When 

 the polyp dies he himself hardens into lime and 

 adds to the structure he and his kind have 

 reared. That structure in time often becomes 

 the long coral reef or the coral island of the 

 southern seas, with which everyone is more or 

 less familiar. 



The Medusce or jelly fishes are not attached 



Coral 

 colorings. 



Coral reefs 

 and islands. 



