The Nome nugget., 1942-07-13

"A coral reefs in the Trop- 4 N ics in a glass-bottomed
 boat and gazes down at the deep sea gardens, the coral castles of the reef-build- CTS are seen to be adorned and surrounded by thickets of waving sea growths that to the uninitated appear to be a plant vegetation of varied hue and graceful form. These are the gorgonians and, far from being plants, are in real ity animal structures. Like the corals, they are colonies of polyps, but instead of build ing limestone bitations S they have specialized in horn, or chitin, as a building ma terial.
 Descending to the ocean bottom to examine the gorgonians, you see that the fernlike plumes, the flat, lacy fronds of the sea fans, and the club-shaped branches of the sea bushes are alive with close-set ranks of tiny expanded polyps, tint ed green, yellow, pink, or white. Myriads of starlike forms extend radiating arms around open mouths, hungrily sweeping in their invisible prey. The delicate, transparent columns, which are their bodies, rise from pitlike openings perforat- ing the branches of their common dwelling places. There is no ob- vious sign of activity.
 Yet beneath the outer crust their bodies unite iii a network which per meates the entire structure, and the microscopic cells of their tissues are ceaselessly engaged in laying down and cementing the central core of flexible and tough horn which SUD- ports the entire community.
 Beautiful Patterns and COlOrs.
 Surrounding this inner skeleton, the polyps have set in mosaic of interlocking needles of lime of most delicate workmanship and minute size, the whole forming an invest ment of rich color.
 Wonder rises the reddish-purple, double-edged gorgonian, it's two- or three-sided branches bordered with long lines of white polyps standing in single file like soldiers. If you remove a small colony of this spe- cies from it's anchorage among the coral heads and carry it with you up the ladder to the boat, you can place a portion of one branch in a dish of sea water under microscope. In a short time the polyps expand and through the magnifying power of your lenses you ca11 see what they are really like.
 At the tip of the branch several polyps are fully open. Each trans lucent silvery creature erects itself full length and spreads a circlet of eight tentacles, edged with tiny toothlike projections. This number of tentacles, with their ornamental ton, is characteristic of gorgonian polvps, as distinguished from their cousins, the corals. The central, circular mouth leads down to the hollow interior of the creature,
 The gorgonians of the West h. dian waters are closely related to the famous precious coral, which oc- CUTS in the Mediterranean and the Sea of Japan, but is entirely lack ing in American coral reefs. This species, so important in the jeWelry trade, grows in small branching clusters on the sea bottom. In life the coral structure is covered with a brittle outer crust of soft reddish color, from which the delicate white nolvps protrude. They are quite similar to other gorgonian polyps.
 If the crust is removed, together with two other concentric whitish layers, the hard inner core is un- covered. This is the part that becomes the precious coral of com- merce. It varies in color from a brilliant scarlet, in some specimens, to a delicate rosy pink, or even white, in others. It is capable of taking a high polish and, as every one knows, may be carved into beads or other ornaments.
 The relative value of the differ ent shades depends upon the fashion of the time. A number of years ago the deep scarlet was in favor, to be supplanted later by the rose- colored coral in popular esteem.