Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1875-07-13
From the Graphic.
WONEEES5 DF THE SEA.
Viewing Fish from Under the
Observation-Disclosures Life
al the EsIG Of Wight.
SHANKLIN, ISLE OF WIGHT.
JuMe 10, 1870.

sCtiANiAisiNf ISIsIs Or w IGIIyE
JuHe 10, 1870.
After several days energetic sight
seeing in very hot weather, We pack
ed our valises and stole away 20 the
Isle of Wight, by way of Brighton,
where we stopped over for three hours
to see the aquarium. You descend a
series Of elegant terraces, and find
yourself apparently at the bottom of
the sea. Cool, arciIed, grottO-like
halls extend in every direction, end
ing in fernerics bright with falling
water, while along the sides of the
long arcades only crystal wall scpa-
rates you from the watery homes Of
fishes, cells, and all the innumerable
Jimmy and funny inhabitants of the
deep. You look up through the green
waters as if you we're a fish yourself,
and know for the first time how it
feels to he at the bottom of the sea-
Great, sOleLn, aIdermanic-IOokin ing
cod whiting swim up and stare into
your very eyes !; enormous cOnger ellis
writhe playfully around your head !;
idiOtic- looking dOgfish lie piled on
one another, and blink placidly into
your face like so many sheep, while
the skates and the stingrays are flat
tened out IN painting tiaccidity upon
the gravel at the bottom. Little sill
yer herring and goldem-hued young
salmon drift about like clouds lit by
the moon, and on all sides, against the
rocks that vary the surface Of the
tanks, wave the exquisite fringeS of
the sea-auemones. Here, above all, is
the supreme beauty of the water
world.
Every variety of fringe aud flower
cup is mimicked here in hues that
fairly rival the roses of the garden -
Purest white. soft, creamy yellows,
rich salmon color, every shade of ten
der rose and glowing red and royal
purple and vivid green spring from
these rocks living flower, with petals
as delicate as they are deadly. For
these beautiful fringes and ethereal
looking bubbles of color are sO'many
murdcTIus arms OutstrytChed for food.
As we watch them swaying gently in
the curreIt. poor little Transparent,
shrimp comes padding swiftly by He
touches a Tose-coiored petal, it flashes
round him, he is sucked into the gOr-
geous heart Of the flower, and it closes
cOntentedIv over its vanished form. -
these poor little creatures, and did
they touch ever so lightly the tip of a
floating fringe, would spring away
from it with an electrical Tecoil. II is
a very interesting thing to spend few
hours at the bottom of the sea to see
the eight-armed pieuUre hanging from
the rocks, or the green turtle Sleeping
peacefully just below the surface of the
s.l, . L
scuttling busy about, each in his sto-
Zen she'll and to study the manners
Of the tiP-tUeing crayfish and the un-
boiled lobster. There are curious
fresh. water fish here, too, in large
globes. Among others Mexican azotis,
most melancholy of fish, draped IN
inky hues, black as a bearse and
feathers, with plumy tufts waving all
about their disconsolate heads. Then
there are the selescOpe fish from China,
swollen and distorted golden carp,
with their eyes so goggled that they
really look like spy glasses.