Memoirs from the Biological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University (Volume 2, PT. 1) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893. Excerpt: ... There is practically nothing in the ocean corresponding to the terrestrial herbivora, and nothing like terrestrial vegetation, except the fringe of seaweeds in the shallow water along the coast, and a few floating islands of algae like the Sargasso Sea. While these tracts of vegetation are pretty extensive, they are totally inadequate to support the animal life of the ocean, and as the whole animal world is dependent directly or indirectly upon plants, we must ask what takes the place of terrestrial vegetation. The Fauna of Mid-ocean. There is so much room in the vast spaces of the ocean, and the part which is open to our direct observation is such an inconsiderable part of the whole, that it is only when great multitudes of pelagic animals are gathered together at the surface that the abundance of marine life becomes visible and impressive; but some faint conception of the boundless wealth of the ocean may be gained by observing the quickness with which marine animals become crowded at the surface in favorable weather. On a cruise of more than two weeks from Cape Hatteras to the Bahama Islands I was surrounded continually, night and day, by a vast army of dark-brown jelly-fishes (Linerges mercutia), whose dark color made them very conspicuous in the clear water. They were not densely crowded, although they were so abundant that nearly every bucketful of water we dipped up contained some of them. We could see them at a distance from the vessel, and at noon, when the sun was overhead, we could look down into the water to a great depth through a well in the middle of the vessel where the centerboard hung, and as far down as the eye could penetrate, fifty or sixty feet at least, we could see the brown spots drifting by like motes in the sunbeam. We cruised t...