Peter Parley's Wonders of the Earth, Sea, and Sky

by Samuel G. Goodrich

ACTINIÆ CORAL BUILDERS

If this was the case, they were not, however, quite right. Most kinds of Polypes very seldom move from one place to another in any way, but stick themselves upon a rock by means of the flat part of their bodies, and there remain; and when they let go they generally suffer themselves to be washed by the waves to some other place, where they can conveniently fix again. If you have ever been at Brighton, or at any other places by the sea side, for any length of time, I dare say you have seen the sea anemones, or sea flowers, as they are called, carried round by the fish people to show to their customers; or possibly you may have seen them in the holes on the rocks. They are proper Polypes, and the scientific name of them is Actiniæ. As they lead their lazy lives as if they were rooted in the rock, when they are hungry they spread out their tentacula to catch any little insects or minute fish, such as crabs and shrimps, which may come in their way. The instant they feel anything, they close in all their tentacula with surprising force. It is worth while to put one's finger just in the centre of one of these "flowers," to feel how strongly they can draw anything in. I have seen one suck in a little crab half as large as its own body, in this manner.

When closed up they look an insensible lump of pulpy flesh, but when their fringe of tentacula is expanded, they are very beautiful indeed, and exhibit various rich colours. You may see them in each state in the [plate] (fig. 1.), where one is represented closed up, and two are open.

If one of these curious creatures is cut into several pieces in certain directions, each piece will become an animal. You will say that this seems more like a plant which is propagated by cuttings, than a proper animal. But for all this, and although it only appears to possess the same sort of sensibility, in regard to light and touch, as some plants do, I can give you a very good reason for its being considered as an animal,—it can move itself according to its own will, and in choosing the time in which it moves, it exhibits instinctive intelligence. When it finds its little inch of rock in any respect inconvenient from its being too high above low water mark, or not sufficiently in the way of the little creatures on which it wants to satisfy its appetite, it sucks in a great quantity of water, and swells itself out so as to become nearly as light as the water, and then looses its hold and continues to float about till it comes in contact with some more convenient home. When I first saw them thus full of water, and carried about by the waves, I thought they were dead.

Now the coral builders are all of the same general character as the Actiniæ, in the construction of their bodies, their various colours, great mouths surrounded by feelers, and habits of taking their meals. But besides their being such wonderful architects, they differ from the English creature in being very sociable, and living together in immense companies. When you read of the Pyramids of Egypt, or of any other great structures, you may justly think them wonderful proofs of what the labours of many men may do when directed to a single object; but here you have not houses, pyramids, cities, nor even mere islands, but whole continents constructed by the combined labours of little insects.

I cannot tell you, neither can any one else, in what manner these little workmen perform their work. It is only certain that they have some faculty by which they appropriate the particles of carbonate of lime contained in the sea water, and dispose them in the various forms I have mentioned to you. When the coral is in progress, it is coated with a soft gluey sort of substance, and over the star-like clusters of openings, there may be seen, when the creatures are hungry, little rosettes of tentacula, more beautiful than you can conceive.

In fig. 2 of the plate, you may see some of these animals showing their rich rosettes on a piece of branch coral, such as is represented in the first wood cut, [page 204].

There is another sort of branch coral, where the animal always lives at the end of the branch, the whole of which it has to itself, and will then spread out its tentacula in a star on the extremity, as you may see in figs. 3 and 4.

In fig. 5, you may see one of the animals which construct the sort of coral represented in the cut, [page 205].