THE AUSTRx4LIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



2:u 



Sea -Dragons 



By Allan R. McCulloch. 



WHENEVER the winds blow harder 

 than is usnal from the sea, the 

 waves churn up the animals and 

 ])lants which live just below the lowest 

 limits of the tides. Our ocean beaches 

 at such times become strewn with an 

 assemblage of marine organisms which 

 are rarely exhibited to our view under 

 any other circumstances. They live 

 among rocks Avhere they are safe from 

 ca})ture by either nets or dredges, and, 

 unless lured to destruction with a baited 

 hook, they are almost entirely safe from 

 ill-treatment at the hands of human 

 beings. 



Australian waters, which is here illus- 

 trated, is provided with a whole series 

 of not only leaves, but branches and 

 shooting twig-like growths, which are 

 so perfectly developed in sha) e and 

 colour that they must render the fish 

 well nigh invi.sible when it secretes 

 itself amor.g the weedy growths of its 

 haunts. 



The species common around Sydney 

 is highly ornate, being decorated with 

 brilliant scarlet, yellow, and dashes of 

 violet, which suggest that its haunts are 

 among the red sea-weeds e)f the littoral 

 zone. Its leafy appendages are less 



A South Australian Sea-dragon. One step more, in evolution, and it would hecorne a 



bunch of kelp. [I'lioto.^O. ( . (lutton. 



After almost every storm, one or more 

 specimens of the c^ueerest of iishes, the 

 Leafy Sea-dragon, are picked up by 

 some wandering beach-comber, and find 

 their way to the Australian Museum. 

 There are several species of these re- 

 markable animals, some of which are 

 even more extraordinary than the 

 others, but all are provieleel with a larger 

 or smaller number of leaf-like appen- 

 dages from which they derive their pop- 

 ular name. A species from South 



developeel than in its South Australian 

 cousin, being confined to the end of 

 each of the spines which i^roject like 

 outstanding bones from its queer shapeel 

 body. 



The Sea-dragons are members of a 

 large group Avhich incluelcs the Pipe- 

 fishes and Sea-horses, all of which are 

 encased in a jointed armour of tough 

 horny plates. Their mouths are tiny 

 openings at the ends of long tube-hke 

 snouts, and are so small that they can 



