Many of them spend all their time among the Coral, their food being the living tips of the Coral "branches," which they nip off with fine, sharp teeth. Others have teeth like millstones, fit for crushing the hard Coral, and eating the fleshy body of the polyp within. Blue, red and yellow, striped and spotted, and of wonderful shapes, are the fish which swim in these coloured gardens of the sea. Some of them have golden bands round their bodies, and fine spines which wave in the water like shreds of weed--all to help them hide in the bright, sunlit groves of Coral. Gorgeous Sea-anemones of all shapes and sizes add to the brightness; and even the Shrimps, Prawns, and Crabs are coloured to fit their background. Crabs are always surprising us with their queer ways and quaint "dresses"; and here, among the Coral, it is the same story. For there are Crabs whose shelly coats are covered with coloured knobs and spikes, so that the sharpest eye cannot pick them out from the Corals on which they rest. EXERCISES 1. How does the Sponge obtain its food? 2. What is Coral? 3. How are Coral-reefs formed? 4. Why are there no Coral-reefs in our seas? End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Within the Deep, by R. Cadwallader Smith