THE OPEN SEA 75 



SEA-DESERTS 



Some parts of the Open Sea have only a sparse 

 floating population compared with others. 

 Most of the Mediterranean is poor when com- 

 pared with the North Sea. To the west of Pata- 

 gonia in the South Pacific there is what may 

 be called a sea-desert: there are few fishes and 

 few sea-birds ; there are almost no floating sea- 

 meadows. On the floor of the sea in that region 

 there is an unusual profusion of sharks' teeth 

 and the ear-bones of whales, which has given 

 rise to the suggestion that these huge creatures 

 get into the sea-desert and die of hunger be- 

 fore they find their way out. The teeth and 

 ear-bones are so hard that they can scarcely be 

 dissolved in the sea; they accumulate on the 

 floor as relics of ill-fated visitors to the desert. 



SWIMMERS AND DRIFTERS 



The animals of the open sea are divided into 

 (i) the active swimmers (technically making 

 up the NEKTON) ; and (2) the drifters, or 

 easy-going swimmers (technically making up 

 the PLANKTON). Good examples of the ener- 

 getic swimmers are the whales, both great and 



