The Log of the Sun: A Chronicle of Nature's YearBeebe, William
History
The Log of the Sun: A Chronicle of Nature's Year
Beebe, William
Natural history -- Outdoor books
For example, when about eight days old, another mouth has formed and two
series of delicate cilia or swimming hairs wind around the creature, by
means of which it glides slowly through the water. The photographs of a
starfish of this age show the stomach with its contents, a dark rounded
mass near the lower portion of the organism. The vibrating bands which
outline the tiny animal are also visible. The delicacy of structure and
difficulty of preserving these young starfish alive make these pictures of
particular value, especially as they were taken of the living forms
swimming in their natural element. Each day and almost each hour adds to
the complexity of the little animal, lung tentacles grow out and many
other larval stages are passed through before the starfish shape is
discernible within this curious "nurse" or living, changing egg. Then the
entire mass, so elaborately evolved through so long a time, is absorbed
and the little baby star sinks to the bottom to start on its new life,
crawling around and over whatever happens in its path and feeding to
repletion on succulent oysters. It can laugh at the rage of the oysterman,
who angrily tears it in pieces, for "time heals all wounds" literally in
the case of these creatures, and even if the five arms are torn apart,
five starfish, small of arm but with healthy stomachs, will soon be
foraging on the oyster bed.
But to return to our tide-pools. In the skimming net with the young
starfish many other creatures are found, some so delicate and fragile that
they disintegrate before microscope and camera can be placed in position.
I lie at full length on a soft couch of seaweed with my face close to a
tiny pool no larger than my hand. A few armadillo shells and limpets crawl
on the bottom, but a frequent troubling of the water baffles me. I make
sure my breath has nothing to do with it, but still it continues. At last
a beam of sunshine lights up the pool, and as if a film had rolled from my
eyes I see the cause of the disturbance. A sea-worm--or a ghost of one--is
swimming about. Its large, brilliant eyes, long tentacles, and innumerable
waving appendages are now as distinct as before they had been invisible. A
trifling change in my position and all vanishes as if by magic. There
seems not an organ, not a single part of the creature, which is not as
transparent as the water itself. The fine streamers into which the paddles
and gills are divided are too delicate to have existence in any but a
water creature, and the least attempt to lift the animal from its element
would only tear and dismember it, so I leave it in the pool to await the
return of the tide.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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