[Illustration: THE ROCKY SHORE AT LOW-WATER.
_From photo by the Author._]
By the Deep Sea
A POPULAR INTRODUCTION TO THE
WILD LIFE OF THE BRITISH SHORES
BY
EDWARD STEP, F.L.S.
AUTHOR OF “WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS,” “BY VOCAL WOODS AND
WATERS,” “BY SEASHORE, WOOD, AND MOORLAND,” ETC.
_WITH 122 ILLUSTRATIONS BY P. H. GOSSE, W. A. PEARCE,
AND MABEL STEP_
THIRD EDITION
LONDON
JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.
[_All Rights Reserved_]
1896
“There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes
_By the deep Sea_, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.”
_Byron’s_ “_Childe Harold_,” Canto iv.
CONTENTS.
I. THE SEA AND ITS SHORES 11
II. LOW LIFE 20
III. SPONGES 28
IV. ZOOPHYTES 37
V. JELLY-FISHES 49
VI. SEA-ANEMONES 64
VII. SEA-STARS AND SEA-URCHINS 86
VIII. SEA-WORMS 107
IX. CRABS AND LOBSTERS 130
X. SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS 160
XI. SOME MINOR CRUSTACEANS 172
XII. BARNACLES AND ACORN-SHELLS 176
XIII. “SHELL-FISH” 185
XIV. SEA-SNAILS AND SEA-SLUGS 207
XV. CUTTLES 231
XVI. SEA-SQUIRTS 236
XVII. SHORE FISHES 246
XVIII. BIRDS OF THE SEA-SHORE 277
XIX. SEAWEEDS 288
XX. FLOWERS OF THE SHORE AND CLIFFS 303
CLASSIFIED INDEX OF SPECIES
REFERRED TO IN TEXT 309
ALPHABETICAL INDEX 315
ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Rocky Shore at Low-water _Frontispiece_
The Sandy Shore at Low-water _facing_ 11
Foraminifera 22
Polycistin 23
Sponges 29
Section through Crumb-of-Bread Sponge 32
Grantia compressa 35
Grantia ciliata 35
Sea Oak Coralline 39
Calycles of Sertularia enlarged 39
Plumularia pinnata 43
Plumularian, portion enlarged 43
Haliclystus 45
Sea-Mat (Flustra) 46
Larvæ of Aurelia 53
Marigold (_Aurelia aurita_) 54
Portuguese Man o’ War 56
Tube-mouthed Sarsia 57
Forbes’ Æquorea 58
Beröe and Young 61
Beadlet 65
Snowy Anemone 68
Rosy Anemone 68
Orange-disk Anemone 69
Opelet 73
Dahlia Wartlet 81
Sun Star 91
Purple-tipped Urchin 93
Feather-star 93
Starlet 93
Granulate Brittle-star 95
Sipunculus 103
Sea-cucumber 103
Trumpet Sabella 109
Brush Sabella 109
Common Sabella 109
Scarlet Serpula 113
Pearly Nereis 118
Rainbow Leaf-worm 119
Banded Flat-worm 125
Long Worm 125
Zebedee (_Xantho incisus_) 137
Hairy-crab 138
Velvet Fiddler 140
The Hermit-crab and the
Cloaklet Anemone 145
Scaly Squat-lobster 148
Broad-claw 148
Prickly Spider-crab 152
The Masked-crab (male) 153
Nut-crab 157
Angular-crab 157
The Prawn 163
Common Shrimp 167
Sea Slater 173
Ship-barnacle 177
Pyrgoma 183
Scalpellum 183
Porcate barnacle 183
Acorn-shell 183
Spiny Cockle 186
Banded Venus 186
Smooth Venus 191
Rayed Artemis 192
Cross-cut Carpet-shell 193
Common Scallops 195
Scallop hung up 196
Comb-shell 198
Rayed Trough-shell 199
Red-nosed Borer 203
Piddock 203
Limpets 208
Purples 208
Smooth Limpet 211
Smooth Limpet, thick variety 211
Netted Dog-whelk 213
Red Whelk 214
Cowry 215
Horn-shell 218
Pelican’s-foot 220
The Common Top 221
Violet-shell 222
Raft of Violet-shell 222
Slit Limpet 223
Hungarian Cap 224
Tusk-shell 224
Smooth Mail-shell 225
Sea Lemon 226
Crowned Eolis 228
Sea-hare 229
Sea-hare, front view 230
Octopus 232
Sepia 234
Squid (_loligo_) 235
Ascidia virginea 237
Cynthia quadrangularis 237
Diagrammatic section of an
Ascidian 238
Orange-spotted Squirt
(_Cynthia aggregata_) 239
Ascidia mentula 240
Currant-squirter
(_Styela grossularia_) 240
Clavelina 241
Salpa maxima 242
Part of a chain of Salpæ 242
Botryllus 243
Botryllus violaceus 244
Larva of a Tunicate 245
Shanny 247
Father Lasher 251
Worm Pipe-fish 251
Little Goby 257
Butterfly Blenny 257
Corkwing Wrasse 259
Gunnel 264
Three-bearded Rockling 266
Fifteen-spined Stickleback 267
Lesser Weever 267
Two-spotted Sucker 271
Montagu’s Sucker 273
Topknot 274
Lesser Launce or Sand-eel 275
Shag 279
Solan Goose 281
Oyster Catcher 281
Razorbill 285
Puffin 285
Channelled Wrack 289
Bladder Wrack 291
Saw-edged Wrack 291
Pod-weed 292
Peacock’s Tail 296
Chondrus crispus 299
Ash-leaved Seaweed 300
[Illustration: THE SANDY SHORE AT LOW-WATER.
_From photo by the Author._]
CHAPTER I.
THE SEA AND ITS SHORES.
The sea is the very fountain and reservoir of the life of this globe.
As the heart is to man and his fellow vertebrates, so is the ocean to
the world. It is the centre of the circulatory system; and that system
means the life, the health, the sustenance of the body through which
it sends its fluids. With the destruction of the heart the human life
must cease; and with the annihilation of the sea, could such a thing be
possible, all life on the globe must come to an end. We know it is the
source of all our vitalizing showers, of every fertilizing stream, of
every commerce-laden river. The sun and the winds distil its waters,
and carry the sponge-like clouds over the lands, to drop their moisture
in rain and mist and snow, making vegetation possible, and giving man
two-thirds of his entire substance; for there are ninety-eight pounds
of water in the man of ten stone!
The ocean does almost everything for man. Consider this statement
well, and you will be astounded at the way in which we are everywhere
dependent, directly or indirectly, upon the sea as the great reservoir
of the world’s water, and as the manufacturer, by means of its myriads
of living contents, of new and useful material from the old and
worn-out rubbish, the very refuse and filth, that we daily pour into
it. In fact, one of the principal occupations of civilised man may be
said to consist in making clean water dirty; and one of the greatest
operations of Nature is to make the dirty water clean and pure again.
Like the man in the fairy story, the sea gives us new lamps for our
old battered and bruised ones; and it is mainly enabled to do this by
reason of its immensity and the enormous variety of its population,
each able to turn some portion of our rubbish to account. According
to the most recent estimates, the cubical contents of the ocean is
fourteen times greater than the bulk of the land, and this means that
the whole of the land could be lost in the oceans. Not only so, but
if all the continents and all the islands were dumped down into the
Atlantic, there would still be two-thirds of that great ocean quite
clear, and the whole of the other oceans would be undisturbed. It is
calculated that the entire surface of the globe is 188 millions of
square miles, and of this, the small portion of 51 millions of square
miles represents the land surface, whilst the Pacific Ocean alone has a
surface area of 67 millions of square miles.
It is no wonder that the immensity and mystery of the sea have
always exercised a fascination over man. Emerson declares that “the
Scandinavians in our race still hear in every age the murmurs of their
mother, the ocean;” but he need not thus have limited the thought--in
this respect, at least, we are all Vikings, and the murmurs of our
mother still draw us to her side. Whether we be Scandinavians or Celts,
the sea has power to bring us to her to-day as strong as ever it had
over our forefathers, who found in the seas that lap our little isles
the secret of national liberty, wealth, and power, such as no other
country has ever enjoyed. What a part the sea has played in the making
of the great Anglo-Saxon race! It is but meet that we should try to
understand something of that great heart of Nature; and for years we
have been sending expeditions here and there to sound its depths, and
collect facts that shall one day enable us to know it thoroughly.
We cannot all undertake, or accompany, such expeditions, and must,
therefore, be content to read with delight of their results; but great
numbers of us make our annual pilgrimage to the sea-shore, and, if we
will, may learn much of its wonders and beauties without running into
danger, experiencing the discomfort of sea-sickness, or risking more
than the wetting of a foot.
In the present volume it is the author’s desire to act as a friendly
go-between, introducing the unscientific seaside visitor to a large
number of the wonderful and interesting creatures of the rocks,
the sands, and the shingle beach. Some may think this a work of
supererogation, for already many volumes have been issued with a
similar object. It is true that there are a number of manuals upon
the wonders and the common objects of the shore, but the best are
out-of-date or out-of-print, and the recent ones are such shocking
examples of bookmaking without much knowledge of the subject in
hand, that the practical ’long-shore naturalist smiles and writhes
alternately as he turns their pages. Whatever else the present effort
may lack, I claim for it this merit, that it has been written in close
contact with the things it describes--not only of cabinet specimens,
but of the living creatures under natural conditions. There is not a
line in the whole volume that has not been written within a few yards
of, and in full view of the rocks where the waves forever break,
sometimes gently with a low murmuring, almost a whisper; at other times
rearing their white crests a mile away, then sweeping across the bay,
flinging their malachite curves upon the rocks with giant force and
thunderous roar, whilst the foam flakes flying high tap softly at my
window.
As far as possible I have dealt with the fauna of the rocky shore
separately from that of the sands or the shingly beach, but it must
be understood that in Nature there is a good deal of overlapping. It
will also be no surprise to the reader that the rocky shore bulks more
largely in these pages than sand or shingle; the rocks with their
cracks and caves and pools affording protection to many delicate
organisms against the fury of the waves. Naturalists have marked off
the sea-bed into a series of zones, an arrangement which may seem
somewhat arbitrary, but which is found very useful in practice. The
first or highest of these zones is known as the Littoral zone (Latin,
_litoralis_, the shore), and includes all the shore, be it rocks,
sand, shingle, or mud, that lies between the highest and the lowest of
spring-tide marks. Next to this comes the Laminarian zone, so-called
because between very low tide and a depth of about fifteen fathoms
of water, the _Laminaria digitata_, or Oar-weed, grows profusely
over the rocky ground, and forms a splendid cover for the luxuriant
animal life that haunts it. Our district is the Littoral zone, and the
Laminarian zone forms our seaward boundary, which we cannot cross,
for its exploration needs the use of boat and dredge. It is a very
tempting province to enter, for it contains the oyster-banks, and many
interesting forms of life.
He who would see the most that the shore has to exhibit to him, must
consult the local tide-table, and the table of the moon’s changes. If
his stay at the seaside is to be brief, he must endeavour to let the
date of his start be governed by lunar considerations. Many business
men cannot get away for more than a fortnight, and if any such should
wish to make the best use of his time in connection with natural
history, we should advise him to begin his holiday at the period of
the moon’s first or third quarter. He will thus arrive at the time of
_neap_-tides; that is, when high-water is low, and low-water not much
lower--when, in a word, there is the least difference between high and
low water. The local weekly newspaper will in all probability contain
the times of high-water for every day in the coming week. If not, he
must find out on his first day at what hour low-water is reached, and
for at least an hour before that time he must be on the shore with
basket of wide-mouthed bottles--glass jam-jars are the best, for they
are easily obtained everywhere, and should an accident happen to one
through collision with a rock, no great harm is done. Now bear in mind
that the time of low- or high-water will be about forty-five minutes
later to-morrow than it was to-day, and the same number of minutes must
be added on each day to give the correct time for your visit to the
shore. Arrived there, it is best to keep close to the ebbing tide, and
as it goes further and further back, to turn over the stones and weeds
that have just been left by it. In this way you will get acquainted
with the best manner of proceeding, according to the peculiarities
of the special bit of coast you are on, so that when, a week after
your arrival, there comes the spring-tides, you will be able to make
far better use of your opportunities than if you had arrived in the
locality just at the period of spring-tides.
The lowest tide is the third after New and Full Moon. Then the water
goes out to a great distance, and if on a rocky shore you will be
able just to step over the border among the Laminaria, and hunt for
specimens on its roots and under its long broad fronds. If you really
desire to see and find as much as possible with the greatest amount of
comfort, then pay attention to your dress before seeking the shore.
You should don an old suit of clothes that has become too shabby for
ordinary wear. If it is a bicycling outfit, so much the better, for
the knickerbockers will be more handy for wading. There is, of course,
no necessity for wading, but often it will be found that a “likely”
looking rock is cut off from us by a few feet of shallow water, too
wide to jump. In such a case wading pays. But it is really best to
make up the mind to wade. Take with you an old pair of shoes, and
above high-water mark you will find some safe place in the rocks for
depositing your walking-shoes, socks, and such other articles of
clothing as you wish to doff. Put the old shoes on your naked feet,
and roll up your trousers or knickerbockers as high as they will go.
You thus run little risk of getting your clothes wet, and your feet
will be protected from the sharp edges of newly-fractured rocks and
broken shells, or even from the nip of a too-familiar crab. Should
the idea of old clothes be an objectionable one to you, and you have a
preference for something appropriate, I would strongly advise a good
knitted Jersey, worn without a coat--at least when the collecting
ground is reached. Such a garment is warm without being heavy, and is
a protection against the changes of temperature that frequently take
place by the sea; there are no tails to get wet when you sit or kneel
on low rocks, and no pockets out of which things can fall when you
stoop. For the head a cloth cap is best; whilst at work wear it with
the peak behind, otherwise when you peer closely into a pool it will
get wet.
If you visit the village shop or store you can buy for a few pence
one of the handy open chip baskets with handle across the middle,
that are so much used for gardening purposes. In this you can store
your glass-jars, and have them always handy without any lid to open,
and can find room for seaweeds, shells, etc. If you are going to the
sands you should carry a garden trowel; if to the rocks, a good strong
putty knife with straight edge. You will find in most cases this will
do instead of the more cumbersome cold-chisel and hammer that you may
_have_ to use on special occasions. With it you can separate the upper
flake of a slaty rock upon which are desired specimens, by driving the
knife in at the edge. For getting anemones off rocks you will find this
knife very valuable. In such situations the anemone’s base usually
rests upon a crust of old acorn-shells, sponge, coralline, or other
foreign growth on the rock. The edge of the knife should be driven
through this crust at a little distance from the desired specimen, and
then pushed firmly towards and under it. It will come off with its
base--the most delicate part of an anemone--uninjured and undisturbed,
so that when placed in an aquarium it will spontaneously glide off the
crumbling rubbish and obtain a firmer footing.
Some of the anemones and other fixed objects in the rock-pools you
will find are in too great a depth of water to be got at with ease or
comfort; but by using one of your bottles as a baler you can rapidly
reduce the level of the water to a working height. I have in this way
almost completely emptied a deep and narrow rock basin, where there
was no play for the arms. You need have no scruples about destroying a
natural aquarium by so doing, for the rising tide will soon put that
matter right again. Where I have had to reduce the water in a large
pool that would have taken a long time to bale out in this fashion, I
have taken down a portable garden pump with splendid results.
In working a “drang” or rock gulley at low-water, pay special attention
to the lower part of the perpendicular rock-walls, that are most
protected from the full force of the waves in stormy weather. Where
such a fissure runs parallel with the cliffs, the most productive wall
will be that which faces the cliffs, for it is easy to see that in
heavy seas this is the part that is protected from the sledge-hammer
force of the waves and the big stones with which they batter and
bombard the land; therefore, it is the part where soft and delicate
organisms have the best chance of flourishing. It will be well also to
carefully scrutinise the opposite wall, but when there is only a brief
time at disposal devote it to the one we have indicated as the best.
Should you desire to obtain specimens for preservation in the cabinet
instead of the aquarium, then you must take a jar of _fresh_ water,
which should be of a distinctive shape or material, to prevent
mistakes. Most of the marine creatures are killed by immersion in
fresh-water, which has the advantage of not altering their colours, as
spirit does in too many cases--notably among the Crustacea. A few of
the corked glass tubes that most naturalists use, will be found handy
for minute specimens, which are liable to be overlooked if put into
the general collecting jars with larger creatures. Overcrowding of the
live stock must be avoided, or all will be dead or dying before your
collecting is well through.
For small fish, shrimps, and other swimming creatures, you will
require a small net, or rather two nets, for one that is suitable for
catching the small and delicate forms one finds in the rock-pools or
swimming near the surface of a smooth sea, will not be strong enough
for drawing through the rough weeds. The one should be of fine muslin
to retain minute forms; the other should be really a “net,” of the very
smallest mesh possible.
On the rocky shore you will find the greatest abundance and variety of
the marine algæ or seaweeds, most of the crustaceans, nearly all the
anemones of the littoral zone, a number of species of fishes, many of
the tube-worms, the sponges, the tunicates, and such molluscan forms
as the periwinkle family, the limpets, dog-whelk, tops, slit limpet,
smooth limpet, cowry, and sea lemon. On the sandy beaches you will find
only such seaweeds as have been washed in by the waves, shrimps, the
masked crab and the angled crab, launce or sand-eel, the razor-shell,
cockle, tellen-shells, horn-shells, the natica, and other shells.
On the shingle beach little will be found besides empty shells and
heaps of more or less damaged seaweeds, which, however, are well worth
examining, for occasionally one may find uncommon kinds there, and
among them specimens of animal life. But it is to the rocky shore we
advise our readers to give most attention. The rocks, their pools and
crannies, will engross the attention more, and the harvest will be
greater. By a little local study it will be found that certain winds
will cause the heaping up of certain shells on one particular part of a
beach, whilst other winds bring other things to the same or different
parts. This knowledge acquired, you will put it to practical use by
finding out what was the direction of that stiff gale that blew last
night, and then bending your steps in a particular direction, you will
be able to take your pick of the shells before the hinges have become
broken and the valves separated. There are many species of mollusca
whose shells you will only acquire in this way, unless you are able to
go dredging, and thus get up the living creature from the sea-bottom.
All such shells, though they may look perfectly clean, should be
carefully washed in _fresh_ water, to get rid of the salt, that would
otherwise hang about them, and prevent them becoming absolutely dry, as
cabinet specimens should be.
Probably, after you have really seen something of the exceeding beauty
of the rock-pools and the little marine caverns, you will be fired
with the ambition to start a small marine aquarium when you return
to your own home. You really ought to be filled with this desire a
month or so before you seek the shore, so that you might provide a
suitable vessel or vessels, and allow the sea-water to settle down and
the contained germs of vegetation to start into active life, and so
be ready to support animal life. We will suppose you have made some
provision of this sort before leaving home, and now desire a suitable
selection of creatures to fill it. My advice is, be modest in scheming,
and for a first experiment start with creatures that consume very
little oxygen--you cannot have better subjects than the anemones. These
should be conveyed not in water, but each specimen wrapped lightly and
separately in soft weed, and the whole packed in more weed in a light
wooden box. The pools should be searched for a rough, uneven piece
of rock, upon which small _green_ weeds are growing, and this should
also be placed in your aquarium as a suitable base for the anemones.
Most marine animals travel better in weed than in water, which rapidly
becomes foul in travelling, and destroys all that have been entrusted
to it.