The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-10-24

n MONG the greatest architects
"A in the world are the little
coral-making animals, crea-
lures of shallow water in the warmer
seas. Small as are these tiny work
men, each one does his bit, until
speck by speck a new land is
created to become the home of man.
If you visit the keys" at the south
ern end of Florida you may see
some of these islands in the max
ing, looking like ocean gardens Of
wonderful beauty. below the water
surface. You will see many leaf
corals. and others shaped like huge
vases; some branch out like the
horns of a stag. The sea-feathers.
near relatives of corals, branch in
delicate tendrils like plants. Other
near relatives are the georgeously
colored sea-fans. Beautiful as they
are, however, these can not be used
for making beads and brooches. They
lose their color upon being taken
from the water and are not hard
enough to take a good polish. The
red and delicate salmon-pink coral
is a different species and occurs at
it's best only in certain parts of the
Mediterranean sea, off the coast of
Africa and the west coast of Italy,
where coral fishing is an important
industry. The finest rose pink in
large pieces is valued at $500 or
more an ounce.
The parent coral animal originates
as an egg. and begins life. as a free
swimming little creature, but after a
time it settles down as Il polyp on
a rock or a piece of deaG coral and
begins to live like a plant, having
lost it's power of moving from place
to place. Indeed, corals were thought
for a long time to he sea flowers.
AS a coral develops, little feelers
like petals appear about the mouth.
Day by day, stretching out these ten
der arms. the poiyp catches and
feeds upon the tiny organisms float
ing in the sea, and builds a solid
skeleton with secretions of life. A
few kinds of cor,u continue to live as
solitary individuals, hut most of
thousands Of polyps so closely con-
nected that you cannot see where
one individual leaves off and another
begins. The parent polyp produces
little buds, which develop feelers and
stomachs of their own, and these in
turn produce new buds-all remain
ing joined together into one great
family, sometimes living for hun
dreds of years. Year by year coral
skeletons accumulate, cementing to-
gether in one mass. until after cen
turtles new land is formed consisting
of billions of dead polyps. Fresh col
onies are being continually formed
by eggs which hatch and escape from
the mouth of the parents and float
off to attach themselves elsewhere.
The flesh or living part Of most
corals issorange yellow in color, al
though the limy skeleton is pure
white.
Coral Islands and reefs are most
numerous in the warmer portions of
the Pacific and in the Indian Ocean,
occurring to a less extent in the
Gulf of Mexico and along the shores
of the West Indies. According to
their various forms. they belong to
three classes. Barrier reefs" lie at
some distance from the land, the
space between being filed by shall
low lagoon OF salt water. Usually
some parts of the reef rise above
the ocean islets. supporting scanty
vegetation. while the greater part is
submerged. The great barrier reef
OF Australia. over 1000 miles long
and ten to ninety miles in breadth.
is an illustration of this type.