The Washington herald., 1915-05-02

"As the earth's agricultural and min
eral resources become fully developed or
partly exhausted" said Dr. Clark, men
will realize more and more the vast I'M
touched resources of the sea and. turn
ing to these. will find relief from the in
creasing difficulties of existence. That
is the chief object of our oceanograpnIc
work-to study and set forth the eco
nomic importance of the sea-
Every day, when the Albatross Is
working in favorable waters, the trawi
net Is lowered and dragged along for
hours at a depth Of one mile or two miles
or three miles or four miles: then 1t is
lifted to the deck and its contents are
dumped into receiving sleeves. where the
mud is washed out and the treasures
Of the sea are separated.
Among the strangest creatures brought
up from great depths, sometimes as great
as three miles, are the 'lilies that eat
meat" hungry-mouthed animals that
have the form Of beautiful plants with
gracefully branching arms and brilliant
SOiOLS. Ahcec SiAioios, dS thcy dIc ST.
entihcally known. spread miles over the
floor of the ocean in vast swaying gar
dens. all red or all yellow at great
depths, but in the higher levels abound
ing in many gorgeous pinks and pur-
pies blues and crimsons.
The Useless Crinoid.
No.. ,-,, .hor. 49, ,.;,,,I .o 7, o,,,no
in any immediate usefulness as the cri-
mold. It cannot move, it has no eyes, 1t
makes no attack. and 1t does no harm.
1t simply cats. playing the part of uni
versal scavenger Of the seas. catching
all food that falls through the waters.
animal and vegetable, in its ten or more
groove lined with propulsive hairs. that
work the food along in the manner of
moving stairway to a central mouth and
stomach. This stomach lies between the
bases of the arms, which rest either
upon a long stalk or upon two or three
dozen legs that cling fast to rocks or
other animals, or spread out upon the
surface of the mud. The crinoid is per-
haps the only creature in the sea that
is not desired as food by some other
creature; but these animal lilies which
eat everything are not themselves to be
eaten. being too brittle. too full of lime
all skeleton. as it were. Even the stom-
ach of a crinoid has its own skeleton.
In the midst Of gorgeous submarine
forests and waving gardens that fringe
the reefs of the ocean floor and spread
over its vast plains are abundant clus-
tiers Of shining trees or bushes known
as sea feathers or sea pens; these also
being animals. not vegetables. Their
long stems glow with a dull phosphores
cent light when the trawl nets bring
them up from the depths. and if they are
touched with ammonia they shine bright
ly. 1t is thought that their light is dulled |
through their fright in capture. and it is |
probable that normally they give forth |
a brilliant radiance when they desire to |
attract their prey or to terrify their |
enemies.
I asked DR.. Clark If fishes have good
hearing and he replied that they have
an auditory apparatus. although they
lack external ears. And some fishes ut
ter sounds that can be heard under the
water: the squirrel fish makes a noice
like a squirrel chewing on a nut, the
drum fish produce a drumming sound.
the "gruntS" a Crunfinp sound. md
laboratory experiments at Woods Hole
and elsewhere have shown that fishes re-
act Enthusiastically to sounds about them.
The EyesiEht of Fishes.
As to the range Of vision in fishes, !
little is definitely known. except that
some species. like sharks. have very
keen eyesight. while others seem to get