and substance; and at night, when their transparency is not perceived,
and their whole mass is aglow with phosphorescent light, they truly
have an appearance of solidity which is most striking, when they are
lifted out of the water and flow down the sides of the net.
The various kinds present very different aspects; wherever the larger
Aureliæ and Zygodactylæ float to the surface, they bring with them a
dim spreading halo of light, the smaller Ctenophoræ become little
shining spheres, while a thousand lesser creatures add their tiny
lamps to the illumination of the ocean; for this so-called
phosphorescence of the sea is by no means due to the Jelly-fishes
alone, but is also produced by many other animals, differing in the
color as well as the intensity of their light, and it is a curious
fact that they seem to take possession of the field by turns. You may
row over the same course, which a few nights since glowed with a
greenish golden light wherever the surface of the water was disturbed,
and though equally brilliant, the phosphorescence has now a pure white
light. On such an evening, be quite sure that when you empty your
buckets on your return and examine their contents you will find that
the larger part of your treasures are small crustacea (little
shrimps). Of course there will be other phosphorescent creatures,
Jelly-fishes, &c., among them, but the predominant color is given by
these little crustacea. On another evening the light will have a
bluish tint, and then the phosphorescence is principally due to the
Dysmorphosa (Fig. 105).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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