Glimpses of Ocean Life; Or, Rock-Pools and the Lessons they Teach

by John Harper

"'Tis sweet to muse upon the skill displayed
(Infinite skill!) in all that He has made:
To trace in Nature's most minute design
The signature and stamp of power divine.
Contrivance intricate, expressed with ease,
Where unassisted sight no beauty sees."

As my aim is merely to give the reader a taste of the subject, and whet his appetite for its more extensive pursuit at other sources, I shall confine my remarks to a few of those creatures which are readily to be found in any well-stocked aquarium. The number of animalculæ and microscopic zoospores of plants, invisible to the naked eye, with which such a receptacle is filled, even when the water is clear as crystal, is truly marvellous. These animals mostly belong to the class Infusoria, so called from their being found to be invariably generated in any infusion, or solution of vegetable or animal matter, which has begun to decay. Now, the water in an aquarium which has been kept for any length of time necessarily becomes more or less charged with the effete matter of its inhabitants, which, if allowed to accumulate, would soon render the fluid poisonous to every living thing within it. This result is happily averted by the Infusoria, which feed upon the decaying substances in solution, while they themselves become in their turn the food of the larger animals. Indeed, they constitute almost the sole nutriment of many strong, muscular shell-fish, as pholas, mussel, cockle, &c.; and doubtless help to maintain the life of others, such as actiniæ, and even crabs, which, as is well known, live and grow without any other apparent means of sustenance. Thus the presence of Infusoria in the tank may be considered a sign of its healthy condition, although their increase to such an extent as to give a milky appearance to the water, is apt to endanger the well-being of the larger, though delicate creatures. The peculiar phenomenon alluded to arises from decaying matter, such as a dead worm or limpet, which should be sought after and removed with all possible speed. The whereabouts of such objectionable remains will be generally indicated by a dense cloud of Infusoria hovering over the spot. The milkiness, however, although it may look for the time unsightly, is ofttimes the saving of the aquarium 'stock.' When these tiny but industrious scavengers have completed their task of purification, they will cease to multiply, and mostly disappear, leaving the water clear as crystal. I believe it is the absence or deficient supply of Infusoria that sometimes so tantalizingly defeats the attempts of many persons to establish an aquarium. Pure deep-sea water, although never without them, often contains but very few, hence great caution is necessary not to overstock the tank filled with it, otherwise the animals will die rapidly, although the water itself appears beautifully transparent.

Of Infusoria there are many species. They are nearly all, at one stage or other of their existence, extremely vivacious in their movements; so much so, indeed, that it becomes a matter of difficulty to observe them closely. Some have the power of darting about with astonishing velocity, others unceasingly gyrate, or waltz around with the grace of a Cellarius; while not a few content themselves by, slug-like, dragging their slow length along. The last are frequently startled from their propriety and aplomb by the rapid evolutions of their terpshicorean neighbours. Some, again, grasping hold of an object by one of their long filaments, revolve rapidly round it, whilst others spring, leap, and perform sundry feats of acrobatism that are unmatched in dexterity by any of the larger animals.

I may here observe that the motions and general structure of many of the microscopic forms of vegetation, so much resemble those of some of the infusoria, that it has long puzzled naturalists to distinguish between them with any degree of certainty. The chief distinction appears to lie in the nature of their food. Those forms which are truly vegetable can live upon purely inorganic matter, while the animals require that which is organized. The plants also live entirely by the absorption of fluid through the exterior, while the animalculæ are capable of taking in solid particles into the interior of the body. Their mode of multiplication, and the metamorphoses they undergo, are much alike in both classes, being, during one stage of their existence, still and sometimes immovably fixed to stones, sea-weed, &c., and at another freely swimming about. Notwithstanding the similarities here stated, the appearance of certain of the species is as various as it is curious. One of the commonest species of the Infusoria (Paramecium caudatum) is shaped somewhat like a grain of rice, with a piece chipped out on one side, near the extremity of its body. It swims about with its unchipped extremity foremost, rotating as it goes. During the milky condition of the water (before alluded to), these creatures swarm to such a degree, that a single drop of the fluid, when placed under the microscope, appears filled with a dense cloud of dancing midges. Another (Kerona silurus) may be said to resemble a coffee-bean, with a host of cilia, or short bristles, on the flat side. These are used when swimming or running. But perhaps the most singular and beautiful of all the infusorial animalcules are the Vorticellæ, which resemble minute cups or flower-bells, mounted upon slender retractile threadlike stalks, by which they are moored to the surface of the weeds and stones. They are called Vorticellæ on account of the little vortices or whirlpools which they continually create in the water, by means of a fringe of very minute cilia placed round the brim of their cups. These cilia are so minute as to require a very high microscopic power to make them visible, and even then they are not easily detected, on account of their extremely rapid vibration, which never relaxes while the animal is in full vigour. On the other hand, when near death, their velocity diminishes, and ample opportunity is afforded for observing that the movements consist of a rapid bending inwards and outwards, over the edge of the cup. This is best seen in a side view. The action is repeated by each cilium in succession, with such rapidity and regularity that, when viewed from above, the fringe looks like the rim of a wheel in rapid revolution. A similar appearance, produced by the same cause, in another class of animalcula, of much more complex structure than the Vorticellæ, has procured for it the name of Rotifera, or wheel-bearers. The result of this combined movement of the cilia is, that a constant stream of water is drawn in towards the centre of the cup, and thrown off over the sides, when, having reached a short distance beyond the edge, it circles rapidly in a small vortex, curling downwards over the lips. These currents are rendered evident by floating particles in the water. The possession of these vibratile cilia is not peculiar to this class of animals; indeed, there is good reason to believe that there is scarcely a living creature, from the lowest animalcule, or plant germ, up to man himself, that is not provided with them in some part or other. In many of these Infusoria the cilia constitute the organs of locomotion; while in the higher forms they serve various other purposes, but chiefly that of directing the flow of the various internal fluids through their proper channels. But the peculiar and perhaps most wonderful organ of the Vorticella, is its stalk or mooring thread. This though generally of such extreme tenuity as to be almost invisible with ordinary microscopes, yet exhibits a remarkable degree of strength and muscular activity in its movements, which apparently are more voluntary than those of the cilia. Its action consists of a sudden contraction from a straight to a spiral form with the coils closely packed together, by which the head or bell is jerked down almost into contact with the foot of the stalk; after a few seconds the tension seems gradually relaxed, the coils are slowly unwound, and the stalk straightens itself out. This action takes place at irregular intervals, but it is seldom that more than a minute elapses between each contraction. It (the contraction) invariably happens when the animal is touched or alarmed, and is, consequently, very frequent when the water swarms with many other swimming animalcula. When it takes place the flower-bell generally closes up into a little round ball, which opens out again only when the stalk becomes fully extended. From this we might almost infer that some animalcule, or other morsel of food, had been seized and retained within the cup; moreover, that the contraction of the stalk assisted in securing or disposing of the prey. This, however, is uncertain.

The motions of the Vorticella do not seem much affected by the stalk losing hold of its attachment; but the result of such an accident taking place is that the cilia cause the animal to swim through the water, trailing its thread behind it, and the contraction of the latter merely causes it to be drawn up to the head.

There are various species of Vorticellæ. That just described is the simplest, consisting merely of a hemispherical ciliated cup, attached to a single thread. It is barely visible to the naked eye. But there is a compound species which I have this year found to be extremely abundant in my aquarium,—whose occupants, both large and small, it excels in singularity and beauty. In structure it is to the simple Vorticella what a many-branched zoophyte is to an Actinia. My attention was first drawn to the presence of this creature by observing some pebbles and fronds of green ulva thickly coated with a fine flocculent down. On closer inspection this growth appeared to consist of a multitude of feathery plumes, about one-sixteenth of an inch in height, and individually of so fine and transparent a texture as to be scarcely discernible to the unassisted sight. On touching one with the point of a fine needle it would instantly shrink up into a small but dense mass, like a ball of white cotton—scarcely so large as a fine grain of sand. In a few seconds it would again unfold and spread itself out to its original size. By carefully detaching a specimen with the point of a needle or pen-knife, and transferring it, along with a drop of water upon a slip of glass, to the stage of the microscope, a sight was presented of great wonder and loveliness:—

'The more I fixed mine eye,
Mine eye the more new wonders did espye!'

Let the reader imagine a tree with slender, gracefully curved, and tapering branches thickly studded over with delicate flower-bells in place of leaves. Let him suppose the bells to be shaped somewhat between those of the fox-glove and convolvolus, and the stem, branches, bells, and all, made of the purest crystal. Let him further conceive every component part of this singular structure to be tremulous with life-like motion, and he will have as correct an idea as words can give of the complex form of this minute inhabitant of the deep. Moreover, while gazing at it through the microscope, the observer is startled by the sudden collapse of the entire structure. The lovely tree has shrunk together into a dense ball, in which the branching stem lies completely hidden among the flower-bells—themselves closed up into little spherules, so closely packed together that the entire mass resembles a piece of herring-roe. This contraction is so instantaneous that the mode in which it is accomplished cannot be observed until the tree is again extended. As the re-extension takes place very slowly, we are enabled to observe that each branchlet has been coiled in a spiral form, like the thread of the simple Vorticella previously described; and also that the main stem, above the lowest branch, was coiled up in the same way, but not so closely, and that the part below the lowest branch had, curiously enough, remained straight. Sometimes, in large and numerously branched specimens, one or two of the lowest members do not contract at the same time with the rest, but do so immediately afterwards, as if they had been startled by the shrinking movements of their neighbours. Sometimes these lowest branches will contract alone, while all the others remain fully extended,—a fact that would almost seem to indicate that they possessed an independent life of their own.

In the accompanying engraving I have attempted faithfully to portray one of these wonderful creatures. Fig. 1 represents it fully extended, while Fig. 2 indicates its collapsed form. There is another curious circumstance which I have fortunately observed in connection with this Vorticella, a description of which will perhaps be interesting to the reader. I allude to the casting off of what may be called the fruit of the tree. When this event takes place, the buds (or fruit) dart about with such rapidity, that it is almost impossible to keep them in the field of view for the briefest space of time. A represents the enchanted fruit hanging on the tree; B shows it as it swims about.