But now another object of interest claims attention: for, in this
cavern, closely squeezed in between the layers of stone, I see the
satiny-white skin of a glorious Sea-cucumber. And now to get him out,
there’s the rub. So firmly imbedded is he, so deeply ensconced, that
no pushing with fingers or sticks will avail; indeed, I can but just
touch his body with my finger-ends poked in to the utmost. No; we must
cut away the rock above and below with the strong steel chisel, by
means of well-directed strokes of a heavy hammer. Slow work it is, for
the rock is awfully hard: the prize, however, cannot escape, and the
chief point of solicitude is not to crush it in the process. At length
a fortunate blow splits off a slice of rock, which leaves the unhappy
skulker defenceless. Now I get my fingers gradually behind him, and
force him out, gently and tenderly; sucker after sucker he is compelled
to let go, and now here he is in my hand, shrunken indeed, and squeezed
flat from his very shrinking in the close crevice, but all unbroken and
none the worse.
This is a much more sluggish creature than any of the mollusks that
we have been capturing: no sooner are they put into water than they
are active, and at once display their attractions; this animal, on the
contrary, will be perhaps several days in your tank before he will feel
himself sufficiently at home to unfold his splendid array of tentacles.
But then it is indeed a magnificent coronet of plumes wherewith the
headless king is adorned.
The Sea-cucumber soon finds himself a snug berth among the rock-work
of the tank; pressing his body between the pieces just as when we saw
him first, but taking care to leave space to protrude his front. Then
this part evolves, and a deep collar of dark purple is seen, from which
a ring of ten somewhat thick stems arises, tapering to a point and
arching outwards. These are of a purplish-black hue, and are studded
with short branches set on in a spiral, which again branch and branch
again, each terminal point bearing a white papilla; so that the whole
constitutes a series of conical aggregations of white dots clustering
about the black stems, something like pointed cauliflowers, and
forming, as they wave to and fro in the clear water, a very charming
spectacle.[13]
[Illustration: